kaled - 11:59 am on Oct 25, 2010 (gmt 0)

Trading deceptively is the real issue - for online businesses that means defending their domain names. Trademarks are only really essential for real-world business.

If I set up a market stall selling T-shirts with "Google" printed on them, I don't think Google Inc. would be overly concerned, but if I set up an online business that tried to car sell insurance called GoogleMotorInsurance.com I suspect they would come after me with all guns blazing.

Lawyers are very good at making money for themselves, but, on average - they can never and will never make any money for their clients because, like banks, they don't actually make anything or provide a truly useful service. This being the case, they will always be happy to fight unwinnable battles provided they are assured of being paid.
If you think about it, this is also true of stockbrokers - on average their clients only make money when stocks as a whole rise (otherwise for every winner there is a loser) but the stockbrokers themselves always get paid. They are really only bookies in sharper suits.

Kaled.