A Chinese company, Beijing Guge Science and Technology Ltd is suing Google’s China subsidiary for copying its name. They claim that the name is too similar to its own and that it has harmed their business.

They claim that they are constantly disturbed by people phoning their office while trying to get hold of Google. People attempting to contact Google using a local telephone directory assistance service were invariably directed to Beijing Guge as Google’s number is not listed.

“We just want Google to change their commercial name,” Tian Yunshan, a company official, told news agencies on Friday. “We have already passed our demands on to Google… We will see what happens in court.”

The search engine’s Chinese name is a transliteration of the English word “Google” which was also being used in Beijing Guge’s commercially registered name. Guge also means ‘Valley Song’.

The transliteration ‘Guge’ for Google, has been highly unpopular in China. 12,180 people signed an online petition at a new site called Noguge compared to 329 who were in favor of it.

Beijing News reported that the case had been accepted by the Haidian District court but made no mention on whether they would be successful or not. No date was given on when proceedings may start.

When contacting Google, they stated that they were unable to provide any immediate comment and even declined to confirm the case.

By Sirius on 13-07-2007