Federal district court judge Leonie Brinkema on Monday published her rationale for coming down on the side of Google in December regarding Geico's trademark infringement lawsuit, reports MediaPost. The suit claimed that allowing other insurance companies to appear in sponsored search results for the term "Geico" violated its trademark rights. Geico needed to prove that the practice confused consumers; Brinkema ruled that the company hadn't made that case.

The portion of the lawsuit concerning creative that used the word "Geico" remains active, and Brinkema stayed her decision for 30 days to give Google and Geico time to settle.