SAN FRANCISCO (05/25/2000) - Walt Disney Co. has agreed to settle a trademark lawsuit with Internet search engine GoTo.com Inc. for $21.5 million and to change the logo of Go.com, a Disney-owned Net portal and search engine.
In February of last year, GoTo.com filed a trademark infringement lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles alleging Disney's circular green logo that said "Go.com" was too similar to GoTo.com's circular logo.
A federal appeals court in January of this year barred Disney from using the Go.com logo while the lawsuit was pending. Disney replaced the logo with the words Go.com and an arrow. The settlement was officially signed today, both parties to the lawsuit confirmed.
"We decided the best course of action was to settle and focus on Go.com's future business," Michelle Bergman, a spokeswoman for Disney's Go.com, said in a phone interview today. "We are working toward redesigning the Go.com portal to focus on recreation, entertainment and business, and as part of that redesign, we will have a new logo."
GoTo.com, in Pasadena, California can be reached at http://www.goto.com/.
Disney's Go.com, in Burbank, California, can be reached at +1-818-623-3200, or at http://www.go.com/.