Google Warns Chinese Website to Drop Logo

The creators of Goojje, a website bearing a striking similarity to Google, have been warned to stop using their logo or face legal action.

Google claims that Goojje’s logo is an infringement of trademark rights. The logo bears a clear resemblance to Google’s logo and also incorporates the pawprint symbol used by the dominant Chinese search engine Baidu.

Goojje went online shortly after Google announced that it was no longer willing to censor search results in China, in the aftermath of hacking attacks on the email accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Though it has been reported that Goojje is censoring search results in accordance with Chinese laws, the website appears to be urging Google to remain in China. In what appeared to be a reference to Google’s recognition that it may have to cease operations in China, the statement “Brother is leaving … sister will miss him” was present on the Goojje homepage. This was changed to “Sister was very happy when brother gave up the thought of leaving and stayed for sister” shortly after Google stated that it hoped to continue operations in China.

The reference to brother and sister is as the result of is as the result of Google’s Chinese name Guge sounding like the Mandarin word gege, which translates as “older brother”. Meanwhile, the “jje” sound in Goojje is similar to jiejie, which means “older sister”.

One of the site’s founders going by the pseudonym Xiao Xuan, said in an email to the Guardian newspaper :

“We will continue the site; we will insist on our own path; we will not give up; we won’t abandon it. Anyone who knows Chinese knows the difference between the two.”

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