Jim Adler, the Houston personal injury lawyer known as "The Texas Hammer," has put a nail in two of four lawsuits that alleged competitors used his trademark slogan in Google ads.

Court records show that Adler and his firm, Jim S. Adler PC, have entered settlements with a number of lawyers, law firms and legal marketing companies and then dismissed them as defendants in lawsuits that claimed trademark infringement on Adler's well-known nickname and other keywords used in online searches from mobile devices.

Most recently, Adler on Friday dismissed Ramji Law Group of Houston, said a Jan. 10 stipulated dismissal without prejudice that noted the parties have settled both Adler's claims and a counterclaim by the Ramji Law Group in Houston.

Adam Ramji, that firm's managing partner, said he couldn't disclose whether any money changed hands in the settlement. But he noted his position all along was that he did not do the things Adler's firm accused him of doing in the lawsuit.

In all four of the lawsuits, Adler alleged competing attorneys, law firms, legal referral websites and call centers infringed on his trademarks by using them in Google keyword search advertisements on mobile devices. Using those keywords allows the defendants' ads to pop up whenever potential clients search for Adler on mobile devices, the lawsuits claimed. Choosing among search results, potential clients then click on mobile "click to call" ads, making their phones automatically ring the defendants', rather than Adler's, firm.

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The Ramji firm denied many of Adler's allegations in a Sept. 17, 2019, answer. It also lobbed a counterclaim seeking a declaratory judgment that use of keyword search terms such as "Jim Adler," "The Hammer," and more did not infringe on the plaintiff's trademarks. The answer and counterclaim added that the Ramji firm tested Google search results for those keywords, and the terms did not create search results that pointed to the Ramji firm.

The dismissal ends the case, Adler v. Law Street Marketing. Earlier in the dispute, the plaintiffs noted in a voluntary dismissal notice that they had entered settlements and dismissed claims without prejudice on Dec. 20, 2019, against the rest of the defendants in the case.

Likewise, the Adler firm on Dec. 6, 2019, dismissed a nearly identical lawsuit, Adler v. Alliance Injury Group, against six other defendants. The notice of dismissal without prejudice said the parties settled their dispute.

Some of the defendants' settlements included monetary compensation, while others did not, said plaintiffs lawyer Jered Matthysse, a member of Pirkey Barber in Austin. He declined to comment when asked how much money.

"Mr. Adler is happy with the resolution. I can say that all of the defendants involved in those cases that have settled have agreed never to bid on Jim Adler's trademarked name again in the future," Matthysse said, noting that the plaintiffs dismissed the cases without prejudice because they wanted to leave options open in case there's ever a breach of the settlements.

Two other lawsuits that Adler's firm filed are still ongoing, according to court records.

The defense attorney in both cases, Chris Schwegmann, partner in Lynn Pinker Cox & Hurst in Dallas, declined to comment.

In one of those, Adler v. Angel L. Reyes & Associates, defendant Angel L. Reyes & Associates has argued that the court should dismiss the lawsuit because using keyword search terms in online advertising does not infringe on trademark rights. When Adler claims search keywords can violate a trademark, that's expanding federal trademark law past what other courts have allowed, the defendant argued.

The Reyes' firm's Sept. 17, 2019, motion to dismiss said, "Adler's complaint is a blunt instrument—a proverbial hammer in search of a nail—designed solely to stifle lawful competition."