Comments on: Trademark Protection Firm Uses Trademarks in Its Meta Tags

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:18:43 +0000

I certainly agree that actions can be unethical and yet still lawful. But that distinction arises most often when thinking through one’s personal conduct — not when thinking about how keep a business competitive.

Should businesses always act ethically? Yes, but according to its ethics (and best interest), not the ethics of those sitting on the sidelines. I’m not carrying any water for CitizenHawk (and agree that its use of others’ trademarks as keywords is a public relations blunder), but I for one won’t impose on them my ethics. The marketplace will extract whatever toll must be paid.

By: Chip Meade

Chip Meade — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:39:33 +0000

I believe they also are granted the right to make money off those same typosquatted names they win for their clients for a period of time after they are transfered. Talk about hypocritical. Slimy is more like it. Kind of like paying the mob protection money.

By: Louise

Louise — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:31:22 +0000

That was funny! People in the SEO business use shady techniques to advance their clients; CitizenHawk may be unaware of that . . .

By: jp

jp — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 04:50:52 +0000

Agreed with Andrew, I don’t care about the legality of it, it’s just plain irresponsible. Nobody likes a hypocrite. Don’t think they’ll ever be able to add to their business model now going after people that buy tm adwords to advertise their competing product. It’s similar enough to what they are doing with their met tags.

By: Andrew Allemann

Andrew Allemann — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 02:53:43 +0000

Dan – I’m not assuming it’s unlawful. Perhaps unethical, and certainly ironic given the nature of CitizenHawk’s business.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 02:40:11 +0000

Old court cases held that trademarks used as keywords could (but not necessarily) infringe the trademark — and, in some cases, did infringe.

But the law’s evolved. Keywords are not used in search algorithms and are invisible to consumers. Moreover, the law no longer presumes a trademark owner is harmed by an infringement — the owner must now prove it.

As a result, it would be very difficult nowadays to convince a court by a preponderance of the evidence that consumers are likely to be confused due to the use of a trademark as a keyword. In short, don’t assume such use is unlawful.

By: domainnamewire

domainnamewire — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:57:59 +0000

#domains Trademark Protection Firm Uses Trademarks in Its Meta Tags http://bit.ly/6PKxEz