14 DAY TRIAL // AOL is suing Advertise.com for trademark infringement, with the Internet giant claiming that the name and the design are very close to its own Advertising.com and Ad.com, while also offering very similar services. AOL believes that this could arise some confusion among customers, who may believe that Advertise.com is somehow associated with the company.
“Advertise.com recently commenced use of the virtually identical and confusingly similar designation Advertise.com and design in connection with the same and complimentary services as those offered by Plaintiffs under their federally-registered Advertising.com name and marks and their Ad.com name and marks,” the lawsuit filing reads. “Through its conduct, Advertise.com has created circumstances whereby members of the public and members of the relevant trade are likely to be led to incorrectly believe that Advertise.com and its services are authorized by, sponsored by, or affiliated with Plaintiffs.”
The claim is somewhat shaky as, while there is some resemblance between the Advertise.com and Advertising.com names, there are few who would actually confuse the two or believe that the former is somehow associated with AOL. But things are even more dubious with the Ad.com claim. As Domain Name Wire reports, AOL has never actually owned the Ad.com domain, it just used the name in the past for its advertising division. What's more, AOL doesn't actually have a trademark for Ad.com; it just has a filing with the United States Patents and Trademarks Office. Ad.com is also claimed by another company in a different USPTO filing.
Advertise.com was formerly known as ABCsearch.com but has bought the Advertise.com domain name earlier this year. It isn't a very high profile site either managing to only get 23,249 unique visitors in May according to AOL's own numbers filed in the lawsuit. Still, AOL is determined to protect its properties especially since it’s still struggling financially. Platform A, the company's advertising network, is using the Advertising.com brand to provide a clearer image to potential customers.