Intellectual Property Issues

The checklist portion of this appendix discusses development issues. However, you need to consider the entire licensing agreement before you make your application public. For example, you have to consider ownership rights. While you do own the rights to any application you create, you need to consider the data you obtain from Google as part of the application picture. Google doesn't give up any rights to its intellectual property. Since intellectual property rights are figuring in a number of legal cases right now, it's important to keep track of how you use Google property in your application. Google grants you certain rights, but those rights could change at any time. Google spells out ownership rights in the "INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY" section of the licensing agreement.

Google also provides you with access to some of its trademarked material in order to promote the Google connection to your application. Obviously, Google doesn't want you to use its trademarked material in a way that would cause problems. For example, you couldn't use the trademarked material on a Web site that disparages other people based on sex, religion, or ethnic origin (among other things). Although the usage requirements in the agreement don't spell out every good use of the trademarked material, they do spell out a few of the ways that you can't use the material. As usual, make sure you contact Google if you have any questions about how to use the trademarked material.

You'll find that Google, like most large companies, is very conscious of its public appearance. This means you have to exercise care in spelling out your relationship with Google. Saying that you're Google's main representative, when you're just using its Web service, isn't a good idea. Generally, it's best to keep a low profile and simply say that some information presented with your application comes from Google Web Services.