My competitor threatens lawsuit over adwords

[JG42122]

Hi I need some advice here as my atty will not be in until Monday. I received an email this morning from one of my competitors along with a cease and refrain letter they typed up.

The problem is they do not want me to use their domain name as a keyword in my adwords campaign. I have looked all over the net, and every thing I have seen has said this is ok.

So is this something I should do (REMOVE THE AD) or just a competitor causing trouble?
Google's Rival Keyword Sales Go Wide - BusinessWeek

[Doc]

I'm not sure if it's a valid legal issue or not, but my gut tells me that it's wrong.

How would you like it, if you found your domain name in someone else's tags or adwords campaign? I know I'd take a dim view of it, if it happened to me.

I think there are a great many ways to optimize your site's viability without trying to siphon business off your competitors via the back door.

[weegillis]

Before we get into conjecture, can you give us an example of the ad, and an example of the way the domain name is used?

Opinion: If a domain name is a dictionary word, then you have no problem. A domain name is not a trademark. FORD is not a trademark. The graphical use of the word is, however. GREENTOMATOES.com is only 'first use protected' as long as the two words are not separate. If you wish to use 'green tomatoes' as keywords, all the power to you.

[JG42122]

Their domain name is not used in the ad at all. For example lets say their domain was Mcdonalds.
When you Google their domain name my ad says Real hamburgers and fries sold here, at the bottom of the ad it has my domain address. Their is nothing about them at all on the ad or my website.

[Doc]

Originally Posted by JG42122

Their domain name is not used in the ad at all. For example lets say their domain was Mcdonalds.
When you Google their domain name my ad says Real hamburgers and fries sold here, at the bottom of the ad it has my domain address. Their is nothing about them at all on the ad or my website.

Okay, JG, I'm a little confused. Maybe I jumped the gun a little. So you're NOT using their domain name as a keyword in your adwords campaign?

[JG42122]

I sent you a pm. I am using it as a keyword, but their name is not in my ad or website at all.

[weegillis]

If what you're saying is above board, then reply kindly to your competitor's letter with something like. "go pound salt!" You needn't bother your attorney, or yourself. Take the weekend off and enjoy the summer weather.

[Doc]

I think weegillis has the right idea, JG. Rather than paying an attorney, I think I would just remove/modify my keywords, if I had any doubt as to the propriety of it. If I had no doubt, I'd send him the note weegillis suggests.

Then buy a six-pack, and enjoy the afternoon.

[wige]

If your ad does not actually contain their domain name/company name/other trademarked term, you should be fine using targeting their keyword. The key principle I think (I am not a lawyer, you will still want to ask one) is that you are advertising to people who use that term, not using the term in the ad itself.

I ran into a similar situation. There is a baseball team, the Phillies. "Philly" is a slang term for Philadelphia. Google's system catches the use of "Philly" as a form of "Phillies" and pops up a warning that the term can not be used in an ad. In speaking with Google, as long as the word is used non-competitively it is fine, but such use needs to be human reviewed reviewed. So, for example, I can use the trademarked term Phillies to refer to Philadelphians (non-competitive usage), but not Philadelphians that play baseball (competitive, infringement).

[JG42122]

Well the thing about it is my competitors are scammers, and their members have came to my site in droves, that keyword probably brings me 300.00 a week easy, so I don't want to lose it without a fight.

Is it the nicest thing to do probably not, but the competitors site in question has 625 registered complaints with the BBB in the last 4 yrs for stealing peoples money. In essence I am keeping them from stealing someone elses money.

[dozzn]

all you should do is change some of those keywords...and next time use keywords... not competitive keywords...

[ChiefLee]

I'm guessing you'll likely lose if this goes to court.

[Modified]

Originally Posted by JG42122

Well the thing about it is my competitors are scammers, and their members have came to my site in droves, that keyword probably brings me 300.00 a week easy, so I don't want to lose it without a fight.

Is it the nicest thing to do probably not, but the competitors site in question has 625 registered complaints with the BBB in the last 4 yrs for stealing peoples money. In essence I am keeping them from stealing someone elses money.

You're providing a good service then. Are cease and refrain letters applicable to adword campaigns or are they just for copyright issuer? Being scammers they may not have a copyright on the domain name, especially if it's not a brand name, which gives you a little more leverage. I'd stall until my atty gets in on Monday. From that article it seems the real companies are taking google on rather than their competitiors that are using their domain so they probably know it's not possible to stop their competitor.

Originally Posted by ChiefLee

I'm guessing you'll likely lose if this goes to court.

I'm guessing differently.

[wige]

I really think you can send a C&D order for anything. Technically, I could send you a cease and desist order demanding that you immediately cease using the word "the" on your web site. These letters are generally requests, although if there is a legal basis for the request they can be the first step in a lawsuit, and a necessary step in many courts if damages are being sought. That said, C&D orders that don't have a legal basis could be used just for intimidation, to prevent you from competing with the sender, which I think is the case in your situation.

[weegillis]

Could Derrick Dodge order Don Wheaton GM to not advertise on the same page of the newspaper? No. Does MacDonalds build where there is no competition? No. Competition makes the market work.

If your use of a keyword offends another competitor, it should be Google that gets the C&D, not you. Let them deal with it. As wige writes, they will be policing for unauthorized use of protected terms. If your terms are not raising any flags, and are landing your ads on the desired SERPs, it seems the wheels of competition are turning freely.

I might be a little less harsh with the accusatory language though. That could land you in trouble.

[cw1865]

Originally Posted by ChiefLee

I'm guessing you'll likely lose if this goes to court.

Even before you analyze whether you think you would win or lose, ask yourself, "Can I afford the fight?"

[Feydakin]

Do a search for major sites like 'blue nile' for examples of many ads being run using the domain name as the keyword trigger..

Also, a C&D from someone that just typed one up is lazy and most likely useless.. Especially since it was sent via email.. If they were serious, and willing to spend the money, you would get a paper version from a real lawyer..

If I were you I would have never seen that particular email.. It probably got caught in a spam filter..

[The Leader]

What is the keyword?

[SEObyCanz]

If I were you I would have never seen that particular email.. It probably got caught in a spam filter..

I thought the same thing as i was reading the replies... darn spamfilters can come in handy sometimes... lol...

[wige]

That only works if the sender doesn't request a read receipt.

By the way, Outlook has this really neat feature that lets you disable read receipts...

[PaulSymonds]

My understanding is that what you are doing is actually legal and permitted by in Google Adwords.

Google changed their rules about 4 months ago to allow anyone to bid and include competitor names etc and to make it a free for all. I am assuming they have not rescinded that rule since.

I think your competitor is wasting his time. I would ignore him.
If you are really worried then why not just remove their name from your adwords.

[ogletreeseo]

Find out what city he lives in and target everywhere else but that city.