A screenshot from the Groggle site, which is currently in private beta.
An Australian web entrepreneur says draconian legal threats from Google could force him to pour two years of work and tens of thousands of dollars down the drain.
Cameron Collie, from Brisbane, has spent several years working part-time with a mate on Groggle, a location-based alcohol price comparison website service allowing consumers to search for the cheapest price on liquor products in their area.
After obtaining all of the relevant Groggle domain names for each country and registering the business, Collie applied to register Groggle as a trademark. His site was already in the beta test phase and Collie, 36, was planning a formal launch within weeks, as well as an accompanying iPhone app.
Cameron Collie.
The trademark application was accepted by IP Australia but, with just days left for other companies to launch an objection, Google's lawyers sent Collie a cease and desist letter.
The letter, seen by this website, demands that Collie withdraw his trademark application, change the company name and transfer all domain names to Google.
Google argues that Groggle is "substantially identical with and deceptively similar to" its own trademarks.
It said that if Collie did not comply with its demands it would "make an urgent application to the court seeking interlocutory injunctions restraining Groggle and its directors".
"We don't have the financial backing to fight them on this, we just want them to reconsider because it's just crazy," Collie said in a phone interview, adding he was "completely shattered" when he received the letter..
He said he understood Google was simply trying to protect its brand but queries where Google would draw the line, emphasising that Groggle is simply a play on the word grog. Collie said he decided on the name after finding grogger.com was taken.
"We want Google to reconsider and realise that we're not a threat and never will be," said Collie.
"We're certainly not typosquatters - nobody's going to type in Groggle thinking they're going to reach Google, that's just insane."
Google Australia declined to comment.
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COMMENT: Only a fool or a drunk could mistake Groggle for Google. Is Google too big for the world when it makes threats of legal action against little Aussie battlers over such petty issues. The mind boggles at Groggle's need tgo defend itself against Google's outrageous claim. Groggle should fight it all the way.
