Could they BE in any more trouble?
Microsoft’s Bing is being sued by a design agency called Bing for use of the word Bing in their name. How many times can use the word Bing in a sentence before it starts to grate?
Anyhow, Bing Information Design, from Missouri, has decided to sue Microsoft for their use of the word Bing, believing they have the trademark on the name. The design agency want money from Microsoft for ‘corrective advertising’ because they believe confusion has arisen over the two names.
Bing Information Design has existed under that name since 2000 (long after Friends started, so Warner Bros. take note) and they have an application for a patent on the name “Bing!”, which was filed earlier this year. Microsoft’s Bing patent was filed earlier however; make of that what you will.
A spokesperson for Microsoft issued a statement about the law suit:
We believe this suit to be without merit and we do not believe there is any confusion in the marketplace with regard to the complainant’s offerings and Microsoft’s Bing product.
There has been no word yet from Chandler Bing on whether he will also sue Microsoft for stealing his name.
What about Bing Crosby?? Surely he has first dibs?? Actually, he’s dead…
[...] sued, usually following the launch of a new product. In the true tradition of US legal cases (see Bing versus Bing) Google is now being sued for using a name for one of its new products that someone else claims to [...]