T
techrealm
Guest
If this is a stupid question or answered already please let me know, I am kinda on a tight line right now...
Can I use my competitors name as a PPC key word if it is generic enough?
A major competitor is trying to get me to stop targeting their domain name in my keywords. I have used their domain name with out the tld only in the ppc engines. The ads shown for us are of the "Another Opportunity?" type of link. Is this legal and worth doing? These appear to be highly targeted keywords that do generate calls and sales -- it also causes the competitor to sweat tremendously now that they have noticed (after 2 years) and that is good. But this looks much more like a dangerous borderline trademark case. I believe either the bosses can negotiate something, or the lawyers could fill their own pockets.
Getting legally advised will occur I am sure but I am also looking to see if others have had similar issues. Also note that the keyword used also describes the process used by the products. That is how overture accepted my bids.
The exact keyword "we make things" is not listed in the trademark databases. However it is listed in the format "we-make-things". Their domain name is wemakethings.com, net, org and (gasp) we-make-things.com which defaults to the famous IIS index page... yep they are paying attention.
Another neat piece of info is that we manufacture their equipment... And this came up in a new contract negoiations they want to do so we are trying to see if we have any ground to stand on to bargain on dropping the PPC keyword for a price. (Now "I" need legal advice
)
After review of the last 4 months of logs we found that the PPC key word came to our site in three distinct phrases: 1. "we make things" 2. "wemakethings" and 3."we-make-things". The leads from 2 and 3 equal the amount of 1.
The search is on for legal and financial repercussions of keeping vs. dropping the keywords to backup a opinion on that as well...
Any ideas or recommendations for legal counsel?
<edited to add a stupidity clause and clarification to initial question>
Can I use my competitors name as a PPC key word if it is generic enough?
A major competitor is trying to get me to stop targeting their domain name in my keywords. I have used their domain name with out the tld only in the ppc engines. The ads shown for us are of the "Another Opportunity?" type of link. Is this legal and worth doing? These appear to be highly targeted keywords that do generate calls and sales -- it also causes the competitor to sweat tremendously now that they have noticed (after 2 years) and that is good. But this looks much more like a dangerous borderline trademark case. I believe either the bosses can negotiate something, or the lawyers could fill their own pockets.
Getting legally advised will occur I am sure but I am also looking to see if others have had similar issues. Also note that the keyword used also describes the process used by the products. That is how overture accepted my bids.
The exact keyword "we make things" is not listed in the trademark databases. However it is listed in the format "we-make-things". Their domain name is wemakethings.com, net, org and (gasp) we-make-things.com which defaults to the famous IIS index page... yep they are paying attention.
After review of the last 4 months of logs we found that the PPC key word came to our site in three distinct phrases: 1. "we make things" 2. "wemakethings" and 3."we-make-things". The leads from 2 and 3 equal the amount of 1.
The search is on for legal and financial repercussions of keeping vs. dropping the keywords to backup a opinion on that as well...
Any ideas or recommendations for legal counsel?
<edited to add a stupidity clause and clarification to initial question>