Question

Topic: SEO/SEM

Proprietary Rights On Keywords

Posted by Anonymous on 9/1/2009 at 2:58 PM ET 250 Points
Competitors are using the first and last name of our company's Chairman as keywords for their Google ads. We don't do any advertising on Google. Does anyone know how to (and if we can) stop/prevent this?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Inbox_Interactive on 9/1/2009 at 3:03 PM Member
    I am pretty sure that there's nothing you can do to prevent a competitor from using your chairman's name as a keyword.
  • Posted by lathans on 9/1/2009 at 3:49 PM Accepted
    It's true. Unless a word, name, or phrase is legally trademarked, anybody can use it for keyword search without ramifications. Though look at the other side of this...so what? I'd be surprised just how much traffic they get off that paricular keyword, and if it's truly an effective term, you might consider using it organically in your pages to naturally attract searchers. It's all about relavency, and hopefully your page content is more full of Mr. Chairman's name than your competitors, no matter how much they pay.
  • Posted by alayne on 9/1/2009 at 4:08 PM Accepted
    we have experienced something similar - only competitors were using our company name specifically. our legal department sent the MD of the companies (happened twice) an official letter telling them they would move the issue to legal matters unless they removed our name from their online advertising promptly. even though there might not have been any substance behind the letter, it worked & the companies quit using our name. also I think on google when you begin to advertise, there is a list of things you have to agree to & part of it is about ethics and your situation. you might check that to see how google phrases it & use it as ammunition.
  • Posted by Pepper Blue on 9/1/2009 at 4:26 PM Accepted
    Here is Google's policy on using trademarks and copyrights in AdWords. You need to read it first to help you decide whether or not you might have legal action in which case I would then talk to an attorney.

    https://bit.ly/X0JSo

    I have a customer who did this and all it took was a letter from his attorney and the competitor ceased using the keywords, but every situation is different.

  • Posted by excellira on 9/1/2009 at 5:33 PM Accepted
    This is not my area of expertise but if possible, trademark your chairperson's name. https://phillipsgivenslaw.blogspot.com/2009/03/can-individual-trademark-the...

    Or perhaps you could create a relevant product, name it after your chairperson and then trademark the name.

    I know, it's a stretch... ;-)
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