Internet search engine google.com is suing pornography search site Booble.com on the grounds of trademark infringment, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
On the day that Booble launched last month, Google attorneys sent the New York-based parody site a letter, now posted on the Booble website.
"This Domain Name is confusingly similar to the famous Google trademark," the attorneys stated. "Your website is a pornographic website (which) improperly duplicates the distinctive and proprietary overall look and feel of Google's website."
Google asked Booble to disable its website, stop using its domain name and transfer it to Google, among other things, according to the e mail.
Booble claims that its name was "intended to be a funny parody of the world's largest and best-known search engine".
The Booble.com website carries a disclaimer on its main page that says it is not affiliated with any other search engines. The page also has a link for people looking for google.com.
"In trademark law, parody is a defence to trademark infringement. Our client's website is in fact a successful parody, which simultaneously brings to mind the original, while also conveying that it is not the original," attorneys for the Booble.com operators, wrote in response, also posted on the site. - Sapa-dpa