Copyrighted keywords

Competitors using my business name in metatag

[Snack]

I have discovered that one of my direct competitors is using my trademarked business name in their keyword metatag.

There is no question they are doing it to deflect traffic from me. It doesn't seem to be working, but at the same time, I feel like I want to do something about it.

What can I do? I'd rather not sue, if I don't have to. Has this happened to anyone else before? How did you handle it?

[skipfactor]

Hi welcome to WW,

It doesn't seem to be working

Keywords are pretty much useless and if words appear in the keyword meta tag and not on the page, then it's a total waste of time. If your co. name starts appearing as text on their page(s), you could make them take it down or consider it free advertising.

I've had competitors use my company name in on-page hidden text. Take it as flattery, you're popular. :)

[edited by: skipfactor at 8:05 pm (utc) on Oct. 16, 2003]

[Loki99]

What my attorney has told me:

1. They can use your name on their website (displayed html).
Ex. Widgets Automotive is …….
Even if they get SE traffic from the reference to your name.

2. They cannot use it in the meta tag – as only searchengines see this.
Meaning: They are using your name for the sole purpose of getting traffic.

[Ally_Cat]

This search should help you: site:webmasterworld.com trademark competitor [google.com]

Lots of good threads from the recent past - including one in which I received a lot of good advice.

[Jenstar]

You can send a cease and desist and ask for them to remove your trademarked name from their pages.

[Loki99]

It’s not a trademark violation to have your competitions name on your website.

Ex. K-Widgets can have “Wal-Widgets is having a sale today” on their website.

Even if K-Widget shows up on Google for Wal-Widgets.

It is a violation if they stuff meta tags or any other hidden method.

[Snack]

Thanks very much for the advice.

After seeing skipfactor's post I went back and looked at my competitor's code more thoroughly. I had only noticed our business name in the metatags, and I knew it wasn't visible anywhere on the site. Hidden text hadn't occurred to me, though - and when I looked, I found it there in hidden text on several pages.

So I have a new question. I know making a spam report would make me a big fat snitch. But would it work? If I send a cease-and-desist to my competitor, and they don't change their site, I'd like to have some recourse. But I don't know if search engines will actually penalize for that kind of thing.

I'm not worried about attracting attention to my own sites, since I'm quite certain I'm not doing anything shady.