World's dominant
search engine has threatened a young South African with a lawsuit, claiming his
website infringes its trademark. Google believes Andries Van Der Merwe's
website, which has yet to make any money, is a threat to its brand.
One is among the
world's most powerful corporations, a behemoth with a market capitalisation of
$250bn (£160bn). The other is a loss-making website owned by a school dropout
on a computer bought from a pawn shop for £43.
The unlikely duel
has come about after a young South African entrepreneur received a letter
threatening legal action because his site's name and logo are too similar to
Google's. Andries Maree Van Der Merwe, who turns 23 this week, vowed to fight
all the way in what his lawyer describes as a "David and Goliath"
contest.
Van Der Merwe,
from Middelburg in Mpumalanga province, set up Doogle after dropping out of
school at 16 to look for a job. It was while working as a newspaper vendor that
he hit upon the idea of a site to help the unemployed.
"I sold
newspapers on street corners and people told me what was wrong," he
recalled. "They wanted a place where they go to find a job."
Van Der Merwe
found an investor and, in January 2011, registered doogle.co.za, a site that
allows jobseekers to upload their details for free and search online
directories. "The name just popped into my head. I said, 'That's the name
I'm going for – people will remember it.' I searched domain names and it was
available."
Unlike Google's
sprawling campus in California's Silicon Valley, Doogle is run on a shoestring.
Van Der Merwe said: "For a year or so I suffered. I had nothing. I'm still
using a computer I bought at a pawn shop for 600 rand [£43] and it's very slow.
"I haven't
made any money from the site. Sometimes I have to catch fish from the river to
eat. But I think God is with me," he said.
Doogle received a
million hits in its first year, Van Der Merwe added and about 10,000 yesterday
alone. "Eventually I want to have a successful company and help people. I
know a guy who got a job through Doogle and he's now a manager."
But the shadow of
Google looms large. Van Der Merwe said it had complained that his logo and
search engine infringe its trademark and there is a danger that users will assume
Doogle is associated with Google. He rejects the claims and has offered to
place a notice on his site distancing it from Google.
"When
I got a letter from Google's lawyers all I could do was smile," he
continued. "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."
Van Der Merwe,
who earns some income as a software developer, added: "I'm not angry at
Google; I'm still using their web search now. They can take me to court and we
can settle this like businessmen. I will just go on. I'm still young. I have
nothing to lose. I'm starting to be successful."
His lawyer, Emmie
de Kock, said her firm had been instructed to represent Doogle "in a possible
David-Goliath battle against giant search engine Google".
She
added: "The services provided by Doogle-it are distinguishable from the
services of Google in the sense that Doogle-it provides online search
facilities on its website for specific directories relating to businesses, job
seekers, property listings and motor trading, for entries registered on its
local databases."
Google declined
to answer questions about Doogle directly. Julie Taylor, a spokeswoman for the
company in South Africa,
said: "We can't comment on individual cases, but we are passionate about
protecting the reputation of our brand as an objective and fair provider of
search results. We simply ask our users not to shorten, abbreviate or create
acronyms out of Google trademarks.
"We have to
turn down many requests for use of Google brand features because sites imply
that Google is endorsing them or is otherwise affiliated with them."
This
article was amended on 16 November 2012. The original stated that Andries Maree
Van Der Merwe said Google had complained that his logo and search engine
infringed its copyright.
The guardian United
Kingdom