Berlin: Germany`s BMW said on Tuesday it was checking the "trademark implications" of Google naming its new parent company Alphabet, which is the registered name of one of the auto maker`s subsidiaries.
Internet giant Google has founded Alphabet as a holding company to group its search engine and other projects such as research arm X Lab, investment unit Google Ventures and health and science operations.
The move surprised Munich-based BMW, which has for years run a subsidiary with the same name that provides corporate car fleet services.
It has the Internet domain name www.alphabet.com while Google`s new parent company has the address www.abc.xyz.
"It`ll be necessary to examine the legal trademark implications," a BMW spokeswoman told German business magazine WirtschaftsWoche. She repeated the comment to AFP, stressing that this would be a "routine procedure".
BMW said it had not been contacted by Google before the surprise announcement of the new parent company.
BMW along with Germany`s Audi and Daimler announced Monday they had teamed up to buy digital mapping service HERE, a competitor of Google Maps, for 2.8 billion euros ($3.1 billion) from Nokia.
