Is This Illegal?

Competition website optimising for our name...

[Dabu The Dragon]

One of our biggest competitors is using a very popular abbreviated form of our name to take our traffic.

The other day I was checking our stats and notice that a keyphrase that should have greater numbers showed lower numbers than normal.

Well I search G and found our biggest competitor on the first page using a keyphrase that contained our abbreviated name.

I won't say our name but is like C/B/S or R/C/A. And to make things worst, they are saying untruths and slanderous things about us.

Since finding this I have taken a closer look at the situation and I'm finding other things this company is doing that is pretty shady.

How should I deal with this?

[sandyeggo]

i dont think you can do anything about the optimizing unless you have a trademark on the term. But the slandering may be a legal issue. I would invest at least an hour's worth of time with a good lawyer for best advice. That would be money well spent on both counts.

[kaled]

What country are you in?
What country is your competitor in and where is the site hosted?

Kaled.

[Car_Guy]

The answer to this can be found by doing this search:

[google.com...]

[edited by: Car_Guy at 11:10 pm (utc) on Sep. 18, 2006]

[bobothecat]

How should I deal with this?

As with most 'legal' questions one here... speak with an attorney.

[jtara]

Just to clarify, you are referring-to your competitor's website, not Adwords advertising?

(In the U.S. Google permits the use of a competitor's name - even if trademarked - as a keyword for triggering ads. They do not permit this in Europe and in some other places.)

If you are referring to their website, it appears the search suggested above will yield a wealth of information. You should offer to share it with your attorney - and if he is unfamiliar - get another attorney! ;)