A competitor of ours has our name in their title tag to try and mislead customers into thinking that they are us. Does Google have an official stance on this? Are there any cases you know of with this happening or have any suggestions?
Nope. If your company name is copyrighted, you can go after them. Otherwise, you are out of luck. There is nothing that Google would do.
It could be that they are just using Keyword Replacement text and when users search for your product it puts that name in their ad automatically. Google really isn't going to do much though. Tons of people bid on trademarked terms...tons... Just do a search for like nokia and I bet there are tons of ads that are going to sites that are not owned by nokia...do it for any trademarked name. About the only one google cares about is google lol.
It's not a text replace, they just have our name in their <title> tag. I suppose Google wouldn't stick their nose in seemingly complicated legal matters.... It's a copyrighted name, so maybe I should send an email over to their webmaster and ask to take it off?
You have nothing to lose by asking but your time and postage. There some extremely good threads (my opinion) in this forum concerning trademarks and copyright. Why don't you invest about an hour and read them. I know reading them answered some of my questions and it might help you with your question. gene
You should send a letter demanding that they cease using your name on their website. Tell them you expect it fixed by a certain date, like 2 weeks into the future. That is all, just keep it professional, but firm. Good luck.
Tricky one actually. You DON'T say HOW they are using your name in their title tag. Under the doctrine of FAIR USAGE, this may well be lawfull. And 'FAIR USAGE' does NOT always mean the use is fair, or even moral. Let me give you some examples, which you probably have seen in commercials many times: <itlte>Forget COMPANY Y, COMPANY XZ beats them hands down !</itlte> <itlte>You've tried mediocre companies like ABC, Now try the best... Let DEF shows you how it's really done</itlte> This is just a couple. But the usage of you company name may not be strictly copyright or trademark violation. Companies use tactics like this ALL the time with competitors. Large retail shopping supermarts, who offer cheaper products than competing companies, use gimmicks like this all the time in advertising, by quoting the products that they are selling cheaper than their competitor. Just some points for you to chew on.