Google sues London cab driver who named his company Goooglie

Alphabet Inc.’s “mighty” Google faced an unlikely figure in a London court Monday: a cab driver from South London.

The search company sued Goooglie Cars’ sole director, Sohail Nagi, for about $12,800, arguing that the cabby had been “unfairly free-riding off its reputation” by presenting the company name in Google’s style — using a very similar font and color scheme as the ones in the tech giant’s logo.

In 2012, after a two-month discussion with Google, Nagi agreed to change his logo to black with cricket balls in place of the O’s to represent the cricket term for a slow spinning ball — a “googly.” Google’s lawyer Maxwell Keay said this hadn’t been implemented, however, and the logo was changed only this year, after Google filed its suit against the taxi company.

Judge Gordon Nurse ruled in favor of Google after the tech giant agreed to cap its legal costs at 10,000 pounds, about half of what it incurred, which Nurse called “a very generous limit.” Nagi was ordered to pay the sum within 28 days and was warned that Google could make a claim against his home if he fails to do so.

“I’m a very poor man, and it’s very hard to survive,” Nagi told the court.

Nurse didn’t give Google everything it wanted. The judge rejected Google’s request that Goooglie Cars change its name. Its new cricket-style logo is “extremely difficult to associate with Google, the mighty tech company,” Nurse said.

Google didn’t immediately return a call and email seeking comment.