Can copyright on brand names *in the process of* being registered.

...be enforced?

[alexnero]

Hello, all.

I have a legal question regarding outright misuse of a brand name.

One of our competitors is using our brand name as a keyword in META tags and site content. Not as a review or comparison (which would be OK), but as separate keywords, totally irrelevant to the rest of the content. Without any kind of permission, of course.

It's not even a Google ranking issue as much as a "brand dilution" issue - these guys are VERY low-end in our particular industry, while we're very HIGH-END. To add insult to injury, we're the exclusive distributor of the brand, i.e. there is absolutely NO way these guys can ever become a dealer/distributor of our products.

I don't want our brand name to appear on their site, unless it was within reasonable content (review/comparison/forum/etc).

However, the brand name is not registered yet - the process has been started, but the USPTO estimates 8-9 more months.

Google Team's response to the complaint was to present proof of ownership of the trademark. Which we don't have yet.

Is there anything else I can do?

(Besides making a showcase of this cheese-ball tactic on related blogs?)

[jtara]

You *have* a trademark.

You just don't have a *registered* trademark.

Talk to your attorney.

[Coolmath]

I'm not a lawyer, but I've talked to a few about this very issue. It's my understanding that, yes you DO have a trademark (or copyright) the instant you start using something online... BUT, if you want to actually enforce it in a court of law, you must have the official registered trademark (or copyright). So, how the first trademark is really a trademark if it can't be enforced legally is beyond me.

Also, if they started using the mark before yours becomes official, they may still legally be able to use it.

In any event, you do need to ask a real lawyer about this -- one that specialized in this kind of thing.