Google vs Doogle

Google has fired off a legal notice to online job search site, Doogle, suggesting that because of the similarities in name, it is harmful to the company's brand. The owner of Doogle, 22 year old Andries Maree Van Der Merwe, believes he has every right to continue its operation and plans to fight the search giant in court.

Despite receiving over a million hits in the past year alone, Van Der Merwe claims not to make any money from the site as of yet, though he hopes to one day as part of a large business. However he does have some using his site for its legitimate purpose, not just mistyping Google, or fans of the Magic Roundabout. Apparently some people have managed to find jobs by using the site, which he's very proud of – and should be considering that's the main aim of Doogle.

So far Mr Van Der Merwe has offered to place a notice on his site claiming no affiliation with Google. This was one of the search giant's concerns, that people might assume it was linked with its company. It also claims copyright infringement based on the name and logo of Doogle.

“When I got a letter from Google's lawyers all I could do was smile,” Van Der Merwe said to the Guardian. “I didn't expect it but I'm not going to get negative. I'm feeling good because I know the law is with me. If they want to take me to court, I will go all the way.”

His lawyer is describing it as a David and Goliath fight and claims that both Doogle and Google operate in different fields and should be able to do so independently without issue.

KitGuru Says: It's interesting to note that Google doesn't seem to have a problem with another similar sounding sites, Doogle.com or Doogle.co.uk.

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