A St. Louis-based company, Bing! Information Design has sued Microsoft Corp. alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition over Microsoft’s use of the name Bing for its search engine.
The suit was filed Dec. 16 in the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis and asserts claims for trademark infringement, unfair competition and tortious interference with business expectancy.
According to the press release
Bing! Information Design is an Internet-related company that creates interactive and computer-related illustrations, designs, interactive graphics, animations, technical diagrams and related services. The St. Louis-based company has used the mark Bing! since at least 2000 and has applications pending to register the mark . Bing! uses the Internet, search engines and its Web page as its primary sources of advertising and promotion.
In 2009, Microsoft launched Bing, an Internet business that includes a visual and graphics search component. Microsoft heavily advertises and promotes the Bing search engine.
In the lawsuit, Bing! Information Design alleges that Microsoft infringed on its trademark when it started using Bing for its search engine name. The plaintiff alleges that the name causes confusion with regard to the relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant, confuses the public with regard to the origin of the plaintiff’s services and dilutes the value of the plaintiff’s trademark. The plaintiff also claims that Microsoft knew of plaintiff’s trademark rights in the name before using the mark Bing.
“For nearly 10 years my client has been using the Bing! mark,” explains Anthony Simon, attorney for the St. Louis company. “My client selected this unique mark to distinguish itself in the marketplace and invested substantial time and effort promoting its business using Bing!. Microsoft’s use of the identical mark and its aggressive advertising have gutted all of my client’s efforts to distinguish its business and created confusion that must be remedied.”
