Geico Corp

Billionaire Warren E. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. posted a fourth straight profit drop, the longest streak of quarterly declines in at least 13 years, on falling returns at insurance businesses and investment losses. Third-quarter net income decreased 77% to $1.06 billion, or $682 a share, from $4.55 billion, or $2,942, a year earlier, the Omaha-based company said Friday. Berkshire, which owns National Indemnity Co., General Re Corp. and Geico Corp., said profit from underwriting insurance policies fell 83% to $81 million.

Those Geico "cavemen" shouldn't be so upset after all -- they may get their own television series. ABC says it has ordered a pilot for a comedy, tentatively titled "Cavemen," that features the characters used in a series of ads by the insurance company. In the ads, cavemen appear insulted by a Geico pitchman's claim that the company's website is so easy to use that "even a caveman can do it."

The Gecko's got good news for California drivers, at least for those with Geico auto insurance. The company, known for its smooth-talking reptile TV pitchman, and California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner are expected to announce today an almost 11% average rate reduction for all 436,000 Geico General Insurance Co. customers, about one-fourth of them in Southern California.

Google Inc. has resolved a trademark infringement case filed by Geico over Google's online advertising practices, the auto insurer said. Geico, the fourth-largest U.S. auto insurer and a unit of investor Warren E. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said its lawsuit filed against Mountain View, Calif.-based Google in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia "has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties."

Yahoo Inc. settled a closely watched trademark infringement lawsuit with auto insurer Geico, even as rival Google Inc. prepared to take the case to trial this month. Geico, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., sued the two Internet companies in federal court in May for allowing other insurance companies to buy ads that appear when people type "Geico" into search engines.

A federal judge heard arguments Monday in a trademark dispute that could threaten millions of dollars in advertising revenue for search engine operator Google Inc. Attorneys for auto insurance giant Geico told U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema that Google should not be allowed to sell ads to rival insurance companies that are triggered whenever Geico's name is typed into the Google search box.

Search engine giant Google Inc. won a key ruling Wednesday in a case that had put an important chunk of its multibillion-dollar online advertising business in jeopardy. A federal judge in Alexandria, Va., dismissed the heart of a lawsuit brought by auto insurer Geico that had sought to bar Google from selling the ads from rival insurers that appear when Web surfers type "Geico" into the search engine.

A consumer advocate group has sued three auto insurers, alleging the companies violated California's Proposition 103 by overcharging new customers who lacked prior insurance coverage. Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights claims that Safeco Insurance Co., Geico Corp. and the Automobile Club of Southern California are ignoring the law by not giving "good-driver" discounts to uninsured motorists who apply for coverage.

Auto insurer Geico has decided to stop running its ads on Dr. Laura Schlessinger's radio program, the latest corporate fallout from the talk show host's much-publicized comments on gays. The Washington-based company said it has received a great deal of feedback, mostly negative, about its advertising on the program. Much of that negative response has come from those in the gay community who said they found the remarks made by the host "to be highly offensive and prejudicial," the company said.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the company controlled by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, said Friday that it will buy the shares of insurer Geico Corp. it does not already own for $70 a share, or about $2.3 billion. The move may solve two issues for the Omaha-based company. Berkshire is ready to reap more than $2 billion on its 13% stake in Capital Cities/ABC Inc., which Walt Disney Co. said three weeks ago that it would buy for $19 billion.