GoToMeeting uses competitor’s name in search ads to trick people
1–10 of 21 posts
Re: GoToMeeting uses competitor’s name in search ads to trick people
#2Evil and illegal
Re: GoToMeeting uses competitor’s name in search ads to trick people
#3Evil and illegal
Definitely evil and unethical but probably not illegal. This post shows some insight into the issue but not an answer http://www.sportsandentertainmentlawplaybook.com/intellectua...
Re: GoToMeeting uses competitor’s name in search ads to trick people
#4My first thought on these matters is usually "unscrupulous affiliate."
This is particularly so when the writer hasn't bothered to contact GoToMeeting first. The fast reward loop behind posting sensational and confrontational headlines unfortunately tends to outweigh the backlash from not doing basic research before publishing.
For that matter, it's possible that MeetingBurner took out the ads in attempt to generate press. There's no way to rationally conclude who the bad actor is, if there is one, because the writer didn't bother to do their research before holding their hand out for traffic.
Re: GoToMeeting uses competitor’s name in search ads to trick people
#5IMO that's a very common practice: http://i.imgur.com/m1eDE.png (ebay store example)
See the sponsored results by volusion, kabbge and ask.com
Re: GoToMeeting uses competitor’s name in search ads to trick people
#6Evil and illegal
Definitely evil and unethical but probably not illegal. This post shows some insight into the issue but not an answer http://www.sportsandentertainmentlawplaybook.com/intellectua...
Using another companies trademarked name in advertisements for your company without their permission is legal?
Re: GoToMeeting uses competitor’s name in search ads to trick people
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
Definitely evil and unethical but probably not illegal. This post shows some insight into the issue but not an answer http://www.sportsandentertainmentlawplaybook.com/intellectua...
Using another companies trademarked name in advertisements for your company without their permission is legal?
We are in the process of contacting Google now and protecting our trademark.
Re: GoToMeeting uses competitor’s name in search ads to trick people
#8IMO that's a very common practice: http://i.imgur.com/m1eDE.png (ebay store example) See the sponsored results by volusion, kabbge and ask.com
The difference is they are not positioning themselves as Ebay. In the MeetingBurner example they do not say "Considering MeetingBurner?" positioning us as a separate platform. Theres is MeetingBurner - Feature rich web meeting software with the underlying link to GTM.
Re: GoToMeeting uses competitor’s name in search ads to trick people
#9My first thought on these matters is usually "unscrupulous affiliate." This is particularly so when the writer hasn't bothered to contact GoToMeeting first. The fast reward loop behind posting sensational and confrontational headlines unfortunately tends to outweigh the backlash from not doing basic research before publishing. For that matter, it's possible that MeetingBurner took out the ads in attempt to generate p…
"This is particularly so when the writer hasn't bothered to contact GoToMeeting first. The fast reward loop behind posting sensational and confrontational headlines unfortunately tends to outweigh the backlash from not doing basic research before publishing."
TNW have already established themselves as a scabby little rag that plagiarize and ignore Creative Common attribution requirements, not doing research sounds like par for the course.
Re: GoToMeeting uses competitor’s name in search ads to trick people
#10Evil and illegal
Definitely evil and unethical but probably not illegal. This post shows some insight into the issue but not an answer http://www.sportsandentertainmentlawplaybook.com/intellectua...
That post doesn't come anywhere close to establishing "probably not illegal." It's not 100% clear, but it sounds like Network Automation just bid on their competitors' product names to make their ad appear in searches for those products. That's aggressive, but like the court said, it's not particularly confusing unless you just genuinely can't tell the difference between the two products.
But actually using their product name in your ad as a link to your product page, the way GoToMeeting seems† to be doing here? That is very different. I think I would mistakenly click that link thinking I was going to MeetingBurner, and I am more ad-savvy than most Internet consumers.
† Note: I'm not actually going to accuse GoToMeeting of any wrongdoing here. Heaven knows I'd want people to wait for more than a TNW story before they indicted me. I'm just talking about the difference between the two instances.