Law and Order: Trademark Infringement Unit
Sub-Zero has filed suit against Ajax Philadelphia, Inc, owner of the online dealers Cuttingedgekitchens.com and Cstorestuff.com, neither of which carry Sub-Zero products. The complaint alleges an unfair use of trademark in that Ajax "sponsored" the search term "Sub-Zero" in the Google and Yahoo search engines and that this sponsorship resulted in the listing of the Ajax websites when searching "Sub-Zero". Ajax has ended the practice while the case is open.
We surveyed exactly one unaffiliated corporate attorney for this story, and it was her feeling that this was an unfair use of trademark.
We have a report that Distinctiveappliance.com was contacted by Sub-Zero. Is Ajmadison.com screening their registered mail?
For a more official description of the trespass see Yahoo/Overture's Trademark Page.
NOTE: No trademark was injured in the reporting of this story. A representative of the ASPCT was on hand at all times.
UPDATE: March 27: It has been reported to us, and we have confirmed that a Google search of "Thermador Appliance" and "Viking Appliance" brings up the "Subzero.com" or "Wolfappliance.com" corporate websites as sponsored links.
Oh my! Did someone just get caught in their own zipper? Is this case over or did it get larger? Or have we just missed the point of the original case? We'll let you know when we know.
UPDATE: March 27: While the entire appliance industry considers suing one another, let's remember that ApplianceAdvisor.com brings not just problems, but also solutions. We have learned that you are not complicit in these great wrongs, and that big-daddy-deep-pockets, Google.com, and its squad of nefarious computer monks manipulated you to cross to the dark side of trademark misuse, or at least that's what a French court says? See New York Times Article

