Well, the thing is over. Google has settled with Geico, following the recommendation of Judge Brinkema, who is administering the trademark awsuit case. To refresh memory, Google was exonerated of Geico's claim that AdWords ads triggered by the search keyword geico triggered confusion among searchers. The remaining complaint, that ad copy should not contain trademarked terms, was never contested by Google, which asserted that Geico should bring its complaint to advertisers. Brinkema recommended that the two companies settle, and rather than press its point on principle, I suppose, Google opted to put the whole episode in the past with a settlement. I wish Google had continued the trial, but it has already performed admirably in this instance (far more so than Yahoo!, which bailed out of the case with a high-priced settlement months ago), and I only hope that the undisclosed settlement cost is less than Google would have paid its lawyers.

The problem, though, is that Google's failure to nail down judicial precedent invites Geico imitators to file equally foolish lawsuits, forcing Google to go through it all again.