DEL MAR, Calif. -
eMolecules announced today that, under pressure from industry giant
Google, it is changing the name of its premiere chemistry search engine
to http://www.emolecules.com/, and dropping the name "Chmoogle" in favor of "eMolecules."
Google has mounted an aggressive campaign to claim any trademark
related to -oogle, including some unsuccessful high-profile skirmishes
with Froogles and Booble. On May 23, 2006, eMolecules received notice
that Google filed an opposition to the trademark application for
"CHMOOGLE" at the US Trademark office, claiming it is "highly similar"
to "GOOGLE" and is "likely to cause confusion." eMolecules had
previously stated and substantiated that, because the search engine's
content, functionality and audience are fundamentally different,
confusion can never occur.
"It's not about right or wrong, it's who has the deeper pockets,"
said co-founder and CEO Klaus Gubernator. "Although we firmly believe
we have a legitimate trademark, and our attorneys advise us our case is
solid, we do not want to waste valuable time and resources in a
protracted legal battle. We would rather advance the cause of chemistry
on the internet, an area that thus far is neglected completely by the
dominant web search engines."
"We're excited about our upcoming database expansion, which includes
millions of molecules from more than fifteen million sources," said
Craig James, co-founder and CTO of eMolecules. "We're scientists and
engineers, and can't be distracted by Google's strange legal theories
that seem to be in conflict with the U.S. Supreme Court and with
Google's own public pronouncements. If Google wants to try
cheminformatics, that's a battle we would welcome."
eMolecules, Inc. has created the world's leading free open-access
chemistry search engine. The company's mission is to discover, curate
and index all of the public chemical information in the world, and make
it available to all scientists. eMolecules distinguishes itself by
extremely fast searches, an appealing presentation of results, and
high-quality chemical drawings. Founded in 2005 and located in San
Diego County, with offices in London, it has rapidly become the world's
most popular public chemistry search engine.
For additional information, contact: Klaus Gubernator, CEO, eMolecules, Inc. info@emolecules.com or visit http://www.emolecules.com/