Trademark Issue with "Add to My Google" feed button

Is Google serious?

[atlrus]

Ok, so I am running an AdWords campain, and I get this in my email this morning:

<snip>

It's a button to add our RSS Feed to My Google; it sits along buttons for My MSN and My Yahoo...

Anybody else had the same happened before?

[edited by: Brett_Tabke at 6:39 pm (utc) on Aug. 16, 2006]
[edit reason]
[1][edit reason] we can not post emails to webmasterworld. please review the tos. [/edit] [/edit][/1]

[rustybrick]

I am sorry, but that is way to funny. After you sent them to [google.com...] what did they say?

I am dying to hear. :)

[MaxM]

Hehe

Hey rustybrick, thanks for that url. A while ago I was looking around Google.com for a "Add to My Google" type button but never found that location.

It's up now. :)

[GoogleGuy]

Hey atlrus, are you sure you didn't have a Google logo somewhere else on the page or site? I've certainly seen SEOs using Google's logo and saying things like "We guarantee that we can place you in the top 10!" trigger a letter like this in the past.

[tebrino]

For a moment I thought that Google has some kind of bot that scans images for Google trademarks :)

[atlrus]

GoogleGuy - No, the only Google "thing" we have is the button to add news to My Google. Our website is purely news, and we provide NO service of any kind - besides free RSS :)

I think is messed up what happened, especially when you guys have not asked me to have the images from my website on Google Images :)

Too bad that the moderator had reomved the snippet of the email I got from Google, but basically it said thet the button I use for our visitors to add news to My Google is in violation to their T&C, because I have no written permission to use a Google logo...

Google - you guys are pathetic.

[sandpetra]

They only need to pull up a couple of people every now and then - and inevitably, it gets publicity - just to remind us that google is a brand after all. - Though I liked that note about google images :).

[GoogleGuy]

Gotcha, atlrus. I checked the site in your profile, but that looked more like a parked page. In general, I think that Google is happy to have people add Google Reader buttons. Without knowing more specifics about your site, I couldn't really tell why Google wouldn't want you to have that button..

[atlrus]

That's an old site - I think it was bought by one of the domain-snatching companies :)

Anyhow, the fact is that it makes no sense for Google to complain about me using a google button to redirect to My Google?!?
Whatever the site - the button still goes to My Google - we have not made any hints that we are affiliate with Google or anything like that - it even says - click on the button to add our RSS Feed to My Google...

It just pisses me off, when you guys build an empire BASED on other people's copywriten content, and then turn around and complain that I have used a little button to link to YOUR website?!?

C'mon....