Google has never confirmed any of the reports about an initial public offering but neither has it reined in widespread predictions of a $20bn (拢11bn) partial flotation in the spring. However, The Times reports that Google's chairman and chief executive Eric Schmidt has said: "An IPO is not on my agenda right now."
He is reported to have made the comments at private meetings with business leaders.
At the same time, there are reports from the US that the search engine faces a lawsuit from a company about its AdWords programme, where companies bid for search terms that will lead to their sponsored links appearing on the results page.
The company that has brought the suit is called the American Blind and Wallpaper Factory. It is angry that Google is selling terms including "American Blind" and "American Blinds". It says these are registered trademarks and that Google is infringing on this when it allows its competitors to bid for such terms.
American Blinds wants Google and its partners banned from selling the terms and is also seeking damages, according to a report.
Google is awaiting the outcome of a ruling from the US District Court after asking it to declare that its AdWords programme did not infringe trademarks.
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