<div><p>Lawyers for a small US technology firm said it is suing Microsoft on the grounds its has prior claim to the name "Bing."</p><p>Bing! Information Design (BID) filed suit in a circuit court in the state of Missouri accusing Microsoft of trademark infringement, unfair competition, and "tortious interference with business expectancy."</p><p>"For nearly ten years my client has been using the Bing! mark," attorney Anthony Simon said in a release on Thursday.</p><p>"Microsoft's use of the identical mark and its aggressive advertising have gutted all of my client's efforts to distinguish its business and created confusion that must be remedied."</p><p>Microsoft told AFP on Thursday that it had yet to see a copy of the lawsuit but that the argument is specious.</p><p>"We have not been served with a complaint, but are aware of the suit based on media reports," Microsoft spokesman Kevin Kutz said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.</p><p>"We believe this suit to be without merit and we do not believe there is any confusion in the marketplace with regard to the complainant's offerings and Microsoft's Bing."</p><p>He added that Microsoft is looking forward to defending its position in court.</p><p>BID creates interactive illustrations, designs, graphics, animations, and technical diagrams, according to Simon.</p><p>A BID website on Thursday featured sports stories and quizzes localized for St. Louis, the city where the company is based.</p><p>Microsoft rolled out its new Bing search engine worldwide in June in a challenge to Internet powerhouse Google.</p><p>Microsoft entered into a 10-year Web search and advertising partnership with Yahoo! in July that set the stage for a joint offensive against Google.</p><p>Microsoft has also begun integrating messages from hot micro-blogging service Twitter into Bing and plans to do the same with status updates from Facebook.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=65634015&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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