Competitor putting my domain in his keywords and description.

Can I file a copyright infringement?

[steven mheakyle]

Recently we did some search of our domain name.

We found out that one of our competitors is putting our domain name in his websites keyword and description.

My question, Can I file copyright infringement?

When and where should i report.

[patrickong]

I think he's just doing it to either get a higher page rank in the search engines.

What else can they do using your co. name in their keywords and description?

[Psazf]

I think that the competitor putting steven domain name in his keywords, if anybody in Google searchs for the domain name, the site of the competitor is also listted. I think....
PSAZF

[patrickong]

You see, if the competitor is using Google AdWords and put Steven website's name or product as their keywords, then there's no copyright infringement.

If they put it in their own website's META tag in either keywords or description, then the search engines might take the cue from there and improve the page ranking of the competitor's websites for the relevant keywords that are searched by customers.

I'm not sure if this is copyright infringement cos the intent don't seem to stem from intentional misleading people into thinking that the competitor's website is belonging to Steven's website.

I think it's just a SEO thing. Not really any other things else.

[steven mheakyle]

we better consult with our legal team. thanks for the inputs

[virago]

Talk to your lawyers and get them to send a 'stop or sue' letter.

There have been instances of suing over competitor's putting domain names in meta tags. There was a big accounting firm in HK that did this once and had a lot of press.

Anyway I found this. A great reference for all. [murdoch.edu.au...] - Meta Tag Litigation: An Overview And Some Policy Conclusions