What can I do here ?

[cdave52]

This maybe off topic and if so I apologize for the intrusion but I need advice on the following:

I have a domain that is an ecommerce site in a very competitive area (ink) I am not indexed in google because long ago I used multiple sites incorrectly and got booted. I have given up on being indexed.

Recently when I did a search on my domain name and clicked on "sites that contain the term" (where I have a presence) the results displayed and one of the Adwords Ads from a Large player came up. I know that using my domain name as a keyword is probably not a violation. However the first line of their ad is just my domain name. In other words the ad is representing them as me.

I have contacted Google and they sent a standard canned reply basically saying they would not do anything. I suspect because this company is a hugh user of Adwords. I can't help but believe that using my domain name as the first line of the ad is illegal as it is fraud. I have contacted local attorney's but none in our area have expertise in internet law. What would you folks suggest I do ?

Thanking you in advance
crazydave

 

[David G]

Hi, No need to apologize over doing a post. That is what we are all here for, to both make posts and read them, the more the better!

Regarding TM adwords, is your company name registered with a govt agency, incorporated, or a trademark? Is it perhaps a generic sounding word or term? From first-hand experience I can say that if G knows it is a trademark they will prohibit the adword being used. If not a trademark I believe they feel that legally they can sell the adwords.

Not too long ago I tried to use a name which I was not aware was a trademarked word (it was a lesser known trademark). Google refused to accept it and told me the name may not be used as an adword.

I am obvioulsy not an attorney and not giving legal opinions on this, just my understanding of it (which may not be correct), so you would need to consult an attorney familiar with trademarks and the internet to be sure. Local attorneys may not have much expertise on it. There are several good ones on this forum.

About you once being booted out of their index I believe if you wrote them and promised not to do anything they do not like in the future and asked for a 2nd chance they would likely accept your website back. They are a very forgiving company from what I understand, especially if you apologize.

 

[pam]

Regarding TM adwords, is your company name registered with a govt agency, incorporated, or a trademark? Is it perhaps a generic sounding word or term? From first-hand experience I can say that if G knows it is a trademark they will prohibit the adword being used. If not a trademark I believe they feel that legally they can sell the adwords.

Really?

I have repeatedly complained to Google about a company that is using my trademarked domain name in their Ad Words campaign and Google repeatedly tells me to handle it on my own as they can not enforce a trademark issue.

 

[David G]

Really? I have repeatedly complained to Google about a company that is using my trademarked domain name in their Ad Words campaign and Google repeatedly tells me to handle it on my own as they can not enforce a trademark issue.

Yes, Really! It happened a few mos ago. I wish I could recall the trademark words so you could try to order adwords on the 2 same words and see the rejection notice announcing trademark words may not be used as adwords.

If I recall the words I will post them here later.

P.S. Just went to my acct and found 1 of the adwords they rejected as a trademark violation: greatdomains (without a space). Message said disapproved due to trademark law.

 

[David G]

Yes indeed, it is a registered trademark Google disallowed. Here is the link which I just researched:

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=76ea2s.2.1

And for all of you who have said a domain name may not be registered they also have it in fact reg'd :-O Look Here:

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=d9sg9o.2.1

That's right, they have the words trademarked and also the dot-com with 2 different trademarks.

 

[Theo]

Unfortunately those links are from live searches. What was the domain?
Some are simply applications, as I pointed out in another thread which included feedback from John Berryhill among others. The FMA ones I had pointed out showed that their choice of TLD (.tv) was used as a clever method to establish a mark giving the impression that the ".tv" part represents "television".

 

[David G]

Sorry, I forgot the hot link expires after a while.

The words Adsense would not let me use becaue of its TM was greatdomains (1 word, no space).

The trademarked domain and ext was also disallowed greatdomains.com which is also a registered trademark.

Both the words with and without the tld extensions are trademarked by USPTO.

 

[cdave52]

Let me explain further. No I am not TM however this site has been doing business since 2002.

Here is what they are doing:
I am abc.xxx They are xyz.xxx

Their ad reads
abc.xxx
Save over 60% on widgets
etc,blah,blah blah

The link then points to xyz.
Is'nt this fraud ?

crazydave

 

[namedropper]

Hi Crazydave,

Sounds fraudulent to me, but then IANAL either. I'm surprised Google turned you down. It's not like they have to can the ads, they just have to tell the advertiser to stop using a domain name they do not own, which should be common sense.

 

[namedropper]

Although, on the other hand, you may not want to shut them down. It could be seen as free advertising for your site. When domains are listed, many people type the domain in direct or remember it for later. That'd be hard to track in your stats, but could be a significant bump.