Dutch Man Vs. Google

[Dave Zan]

Update:

http://www.infoworld.nl/idgns/bericht.phtml?id=002570DE00740E18002572DD002EB127

The Dutchman who had a conflict with Google UK Ltd. about a number of domain names has stopped using the domains.

Internet entrepreneur Marcel van der Werf owned eleven domain names that used the word 'google' or 'froogle' in their addresses: seven were .nl domains, three .eu and one .com.

Because some of the sites were hosted in the U.K., it was Google's U.K. subsidiary that asked Van der Werf to stop using addresses with the company’s trademark in them. Van der Werf refused, arguing that a word in a URL is not related to a product or a registered trademark.

Last week, Google UK announced plans to file a lawsuit against him. On Tuesday Van der Werf agreed to stop using the domains immediately. "All Google links are now offline and taken off registration to prevent further escalation of the juridical conflict," Van der Werf said.