Google Sued Over 'Scholar'

The American Chemical Society has fired off a lawsuit against Google Inc., accusing the Web search powerhouse of "trademark infringement and unfair competition" with its Google Scholar search beta.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, accuses Google of violating the Society's trademarks used in a similar search tool called SciFinder Scholar. According to the scientific society's complaint, the SciFinder Scholar search tool is used by more than 100,000 scientists, researchers, students and professors nationwide. By launching a similar tool with the same name, the suit alleges that Google is likely to cause "confusion, mistake and deception" in the market.

"They've chosen to use a name that is creating confusion in the marketplace. Our product is known colloquially as 'Scholar' and they've chosen to use the same name. We've very concerned about losing the goodwill we've developed over the last six years," ACS general counsel Flint Lewis told eWEEK.com. Google spokesperson Steve Langdon dismissed the ACS complaint. "We are confident in the use of our name Google Scholar," Langdon said. "This lawsuit is without merit."

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