Google's Android name at center of trademark infringement suit by an Illinois developer

Submitted by patentadmin on Mon, 05/03/2010 - 00:00

May 3, 2009 - (Source: ComputerWorld) - Illinois developer Erich Specht, filed suit this week for trademark infringement against Google and some 47 other companies in the Open Handset Alliance. At stake are the rights to the Android name which denotes Google's version of Linux that adorns their handsets.

Specht has officially owned the trademark to "android" since he registered it in 2000. Two years later, the US Patent and Trademark Office awarded the trademark to Android Data, Specht's company. The USPTO granted the application noting that no application would be granted the exclusive right to use the term data, therefore making "android" that dominant word and the trademark.

Android Data, Specht's company, was dissolved in 2004 and lost its domain name androiddata.com. A new domain name android-data.com was registered a few weeks ago in anticipation of the lawsuit.

What does Google say? "We believe the complaint has no merit," a Google spokesperson said. "We plan to defend against them vigorously."