A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that search engine giant Google did not violate car insurance vendor Geico's trademarks when it displayed ads for rival insurance providers when users search for "Geico" on Google. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia did not agree with Geico's assertion that the practice diluted its trademarks and caused confusion among consumers.

The judge said that "as a matter of law it is not trademark infringement to use trademarks as keywords to trigger advertising."

"It confirms that our policy complies with the law, particularly the use of trademarks as keywords," said Google general counsel David Drummond. "This is a clear signal to other litigants that our keyword policy is lawful."