After losing the rights to use the Gmail trademark in Germany, the search giant is caught in yet another name game. This time, Beijing-based Guge Science and Technology is suing Google's China subsidiary alleging the similarities between its name and Google's commercial name have created confusion and has led to the company being constantly disturbed by people calling up its office trying to contact the search engine.
"We just want Google to change their commercial name," Tian Yunshan, a company official, told Reuters on Friday. "We have already passed our demands on to Google ... We will see what happens in court."
The case has already been accepted by a court in Beijing's Haidian district, according to Beijing News. However, seeing that Beijing Guge opened for business one week after Google announced its new Chinese name on April 12th, the general feeling online is that Beijing Guge chose its name out of opportunistic motives and is looking to profit from the media attention.
The search giant has struggled in China before, last year they were forced to provide a Chinese version of the site that complied with the country's censorship laws. A Google representative contacted by telephone declined to confirm the lawsuit and said she was unable to provide immediate comment, reported Reuters.