Blatant rip-off raises search giant’s hackles
Google has threatened a Chinese search site called Goojje with legal action for copyright infringement, according to reports emerging from China.
Goojje was established in January at the same time as Google threatened to pull out of China because of a hack attack.
The site has an obviously similar name, logo and function to Google’s, and its search results are censored to comply with Chinese law.
The state-controlled Shenzen Economic Daily said that Google has argued in a letter that Goojje users will think the site is associated with its own brand, and warned that it would go to court to protect its intellectual property if the site fails to stop using the logo.
The web giant said in a statement on Monday: "Google officially asked Goojje to stop copying Google’s logo, which is protected by trademark."
Goojje has reportedly shown support for Google in the past, however, posting a message when it launched which read: "Sister was very happy when brother gave up the thought of leaving and stayed for sister."
Goojje claims that its name is a pun. The end of the word is an abbreviation of ’jie jie’, the Chinese word for sister, while the end of Google’s name is similar to ’ge ge’, the Chinese word for brother.
Google said in January that it is no longer prepared to censor its search results in China, and that it will pull out of the country altogether if it cannot reach an agreement with the Chinese government.
