Trademark question

[pam]

If someone owns a trademarked domain name, and other people are using that name -- in the same type of website -- in their text and meta tags solely to fool search engines into giving them higher rankings, does anyone have any recourse with the search engine company?

I.E. Let's say I own blondenakedpictures.com (this is a made up domain name, if it exists, it's not mine). It's trademarked as a website that offers photos of naked blonde women.

Now, another website (or hundreds of sites) put the text 'blondenakedpictures' and 'blondenakedpictures.com' in their meta tags, text links, alt tags, in an effort to get search engines to list them by those words, since 'blondenakedpictures' is a well-known website and they want to push my ranking down.

What could I do to get that removed from the search engine(s), if anything?

 

[DNQuest.com]

If I remember correctly, Ford was sued by GM because Ford used meta tags that contained many GM references. I think GM recovered millions over this. It was deemed unfair competition and stealing of traffic. I can't remember clearly, it was about 5-6 years ago. But the courts came down hard of Ford.

I don't know if this would be the circumstance since it is generec terms used in your example. If TMs were being used, that could be a different story. You would also have to show "harm" caused by this practice.

I'm not a lawyer, just using past stories to relate to the question.

 

[pam]

If I remember correctly, Ford was sued by GM because Ford used meta tags that contained many GM references. I think GM recovered millions over this. It was deemed unfair competition and stealing of traffic. I can't remember clearly, it was about 5-6 years ago. But the courts came down hard of Ford.

I don't know if this would be the circumstance since it is generec terms used in your example. If TMs were being used, that could be a different story. You would also have to show "harm" caused by this practice.

I'm not a lawyer, just using past stories to relate to the question.

The harm is that people go to THEIR website before go to mine, since they have a higher ranking in Google's search engine. Google's FAQ states unless the trademark is being infringed in AdWords, they can't do a damned thing.

 

[namedropper]

Well, the example is a little odd, because blondenakedpictures.com doesn't sound like a trademark, it sounds solely descriptive. But then if the other places are putting it as a .com then they are trying to steal traffic.

I know a number of sites have sued for this sort of issue in the past, but as far as I know there's no clear precedent. So if you wouldn't to get any headway on it you'd have to sue (or threaten to sue) the sites or the search engines involved. It's conceivable you could have some luck getting the competing sites to remove the term just be strongly worded Cease and Desist letters. Otherwise I think you would have a long climb ahead of you.

 

[pam]

Well, the example is a little odd, because blondenakedpictures.com doesn't sound like a trademark, it sounds solely descriptive. But then if the other places are putting it as a .com then they are trying to steal traffic.

I know a number of sites have sued for this sort of issue in the past, but as far as I know there's no clear precedent. So if you wouldn't to get any headway on it you'd have to sue (or threaten to sue) the sites or the search engines involved. It's conceivable you could have some luck getting the competing sites to remove the term just be strongly worded Cease and Desist letters. Otherwise I think you would have a long climb ahead of you.

Yeah, I know the example was poor, and there are literally hundreds of sites doing this to me, just to get a jump on me on Google. Several I checked were foreign and the information listed with the registrar appeared to be false.

Not much I can do, really, I guess.

 

[Mr Webname]

Several I checked were foreign and the information listed with the registrar appeared to be false.

If you can be sure it's false you could report to the registrar as it is against ICAAN rules to list false whois - they might close it down.

 

[Nameable]

IANAL, so let's be blunt. How much money is the "infringement" costing you? How much are the infringer(s) worth? Unless the answer is A LOT!!!, just do it back to them. They obviously did something to get ahead of you in google and I'm presuming this is on porn domains that use generic words in the domains.

If you have an actual registered trademark on the other hand, get a lawyer to send a letter on fancy letterhead. You HAVE TO defend your mark in order for it to remain valid.

Once you get at least one site to remove your marks, send letters to the search engines (esp. google since they cache pages) and demand that they remove the infringing pages.

Do what ever costs you the least for the maximum result.

This is all just my opinion. If you want real legal advice, consult a lawyer.

 

[pam]

IANAL, so let's be blunt. How much money is the "infringement" costing you? How much are the infringer(s) worth? Unless the answer is A LOT!!!, just do it back to them. They obviously did something to get ahead of you in google and I'm presuming this is on porn domains that use generic words in the domains.

If you have an actual registered trademark on the other hand, get a lawyer to send a letter on fancy letterhead. You HAVE TO defend your mark in order for it to remain valid.

Once you get at least one site to remove your marks, send letters to the search engines (esp. google since they cache pages) and demand that they remove the infringing pages.

Do what ever costs you the least for the maximum result.

This is all just my opinion. If you want real legal advice, consult a lawyer.

You may be from Mass, but your advice is wrong. Google WON'T remove it, no matter how much I bitch or moan, unless the infringer is using AdWords -- it's right in thir terms and FAQ.

Do it back to them? Two wrongs make a right? Uhm, no. What is it costing me? The top 50 spots in Google as they have them filled with their crap. It has nothing to do with generic terms, please read my post - they are using MY domain name with the dot com in their meta tags, alt tags, and text so that they gain their Google rankings on MY domain name.

Another moron with about 500 hyphenated domains has taken the name of my top model/video title and placed it in his text so that he gets the top 100 spots in Google if you search for my model. Since I can't trademark her name, all I can do is keep complaining to Google, who tell me their engineers will take care of it but it can take months.

Yes, I have an actual valid trademark, I paid an attorney to file it for me, I have the legal paperwork here, and the domain name IS trademarked to me. After I file notices with all the registrars for false information, I'll notify the site owners but I doubt someone in Yugoslavia will care

Too bad I can't file a DMCA-type notice with the host and uplink provider, eh?

 

[Nameable]

Didn't mean to offend you, Pam. I did read your post -- you mentioned "blonde naked pictures" which I consider to be generic terms. Since you have a specific registered trademark, enforce it.

Google's terms of service do NOT trump US trademark law. If they are supporting the infringement, you need to make them stop.

Separately, it sounds like this person has beaten you at the SEO game. I'm not suggesting two wrongs make a right, but this is not just a minor annoyance, it sounds like you are losing real money. You may have to beat them at their own game. I'm not an SEO expert, but it would seem you could do whatever it is they're doing as it has proven pretty effective at attaining high google ranks.

Also, who is sponsoring their sites? Can you complain to the sponsors and perhaps threaten them with legal action? You may not necessarily have a case, but if they can't get their sites sponsored, it may be enough to make the moron give up and transfer their domains to you.

I'd consider dealing with the registrar as sort of a last-ditch effort. Seems to me that many registrars don't put much time and effort into their compliance depts. On top of the fact that it will take a long time (months) to go this route, the registrar will most likely delete the domains rather than transfer them to you.

You're certainly in a tough position. If I were you, and the losses were high enough, I'd talk with an attorney.

Best of luck!

 

[dtobias]

I wouldn't worry too much about meta tags... they're barely used by search engines these days.

As for mention in the site text itself, it depends on context... there are exceptions to trademark law where nominative use is concerned, when the trademarked name is used to refer to the trademarked product or service, as in comparative advertising -- "Our generic cola tastes just as good as Coca-Cola(R) or Pepsi(R)!", or "Our site is just as sexy as blondenakedpictures.com(R)" -- or in reviews and criticism.