United States v. Google/Findings of Fact/Section 3B
- B. Branding
130. The fact that “Google is used extremely highly across the world . . . contribute[s] to brand formation.” Tr. at 672:20-21 (Rangel); id. at 7780:23-24 (Pichai) (“Our brand gets validated by being present as a default in iPhones.”). Google also built brand loyalty and recognition by offering a high quality product. Id. at 5921:22–5922:5 (Whinston); id. at 8397:2122 (Israel) (“Google is building a brand reputation by how well it provides searches.”).
131. Google has long recognized that “the affinity of the Google brand was something that was valued by users[.]” Id. at 361:17-18 (Barton); see UPX93 at 904 (“Several factors are believed to affect the choice [of a GSE], including . . . brand strength[.]”) (2007); UPX171 at 186 (“Our brand is in good standing among iPhone users” based on “[k]ey satisfaction and brand affinity metrics[.]”) (2015).
132. Perhaps the best example of Google’s brand is that the public uses the term “Google” interchangeably with internet search. “[T]o search is to Google. Google is a verb.” Tr. at 623:20-21 (Rangel); see also id. at 672:14-23 (Rangel) (same); id. at 4769:10-16 (Whinston). Moreover, a search for “google.com” is one of the most frequently entered search queries on Bing. Id. at 2745:21-25 (Parakhin).
133. Google’s strong brand also benefits its partners. See id. at 7780:21-23 (Pichai) (“Apple benefits and sells more iPhones by having their brand associated with the quality . . . [of] Google Search.”).