Googles v. Google

Citing superior rights to the GOOGLES name in the children's arena, Googles, a children's website, has filed trademark proceedings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office against Google Inc. The filing challenges the registration of Google Inc.'s mark GOOGLE for children's and other products, email services and search engine. [via Search Engine Lowdown]

Which came first?

Domain Name: GOOGLES.COM / Created on: 18-Jul-97

Domain Name: GOOGLE.COM / Created on: 1997-Sep-15.

Who trademarked first?

Word Mark GOOGLES: computer services, namely providing e-mail services - Filing Date May 17, 2004 / children's books - first use in commerce 19960600

Word Mark GOOGLE: computer services - first use in commerce 19970300 / providing electronic mail - first use in commerce 19970900 / books, namely children's books - first use in commerce 19990731

And more from Matt Hines at c|net:

Googles.com, which centers on a group of friendly, four-eyed alien characters, came online in 1997. It sells children's goods ranging from toys to clothing and also serves as an entertainment site offering e-mail, an online diary, and other Web community features aimed at children ages 2 to 10. Darnestown, Md.-based Stelor acquired the rights to market the so-called "Googles from Goo" alien characters in 2002 from their original creator, who trademarked the name in 1997 for use with toys, clothes, online services and other media.

In comparison, Google the search engine was not officially incorporated as a company until 1998, though Backrub, a precursor to the current search engine, came online in 1997. The company registered for its trademark in 1998 but was only approved by the Patent and Trademark Office as an officially registered trademark in January 2004.