Intellectual Property Law

Brand As Navigator: Google's Chrome Search Engine

By Marty Schwimmer

I downloaded the new Google Chrome Browser. The URL window functions as a search window if you type in a term that isn't recognized as a URL. If I type DELTA or UNITED or LLOYDS per se into the URL windows of Safari and Firefox, they convert that to Delta.com, United.com and Lloyds.com respectively, which statistically may be a good guess but may not represent what 100% of all users intend when using such terms. If I type those terms into IE, I get search results for those terms on MS Live Search (or Verizon's search when I do this at home). Google Chrome, as you would expect, returns Google results for non-urls typed into the URL window. Search results add a click for users but doesn't land users on an unintended page.

Both Live Search and Google, of course, may return keyword ads for competitors along with the organic search results.

I direct your attention to this post from March discussing URL-based navigation vs search from the point of view of a trademark owner, and speculation on how browsers may evolve in that regard. I view Google Chrome as one more potential step away from the primacy of the domain name in web navigation.

Full post as published by Trademark Blog on September 03, 2008 (boomark / email).