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How SEOMoz sent us a takedown notice.

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Re: How SEOMoz sent us a takedown notice.

#41

Post by gklitt »

I find myself playing devil's advocate against all the hate being slung at SEOMoz in these comments. Coming at this dispute from an impartial viewpoint (never heard of either of these companies before this story), it sounds like it could potentially be a valid case of trademark protection. The two companies sound like they're in a similar industry, and the names are undeniably similar.

I'm not that familiar with the specifics of trademark law, so I don't know what the legally appropriate outcome is. But after seeing some of the comments from SEOMoz employees, I would be interested in reading a full response post explaining their side of the story.

Re: How SEOMoz sent us a takedown notice.

#43

Post by pseudonym »

nathas wrote: post #4

A very important snippet from the comments from Sarah Bird (COO of Moz) > So, I did what I would want someone to do for me. In January, I called him to give him a personal heads up that we had a problem, that the brand felt too close for us. I told him we had a registered intent-to-use, and that we were planning on launching soon, just like him. I asked him to use a different brand for his future product or that we w…

That actually makes me more disinclined to use Moz-- this isn't a snap-retort by an overeager in-house lawyer looking to earn their fee, this is the COO claiming that "Doz" is a trademark violation because it ends on "oz". It's flat-out depressing, and giving overt hints about "Change your name or we'll sue" ahead of time doesn't make this any better.

Re: How SEOMoz sent us a takedown notice.

#44

Post by rhizome »

dohertyjf wrote: post #11
benatkin wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never said that you denied it. I said that you failed to disclose it in your comment. My earlier comment was just a friendly reminder but since you went uppercase on me I'll add that you should know better because of the industry you work in.

You are correct, I did. Thanks for the reminder, though a statement like "Why not disclose that?" is, most of the time, taken as accusatory and not friendly. But this is not the place for such debates. Let's talk about copyright legalities :-)

a statement like "Why not disclose that?" is, most of the time, taken as accusatory and not friendly.

No it isn't, but it belies a defensiveness and paranoia that you interpret it that way. Why not take it at face value?

Re: How SEOMoz sent us a takedown notice.

#47

Post by dohertyjf »

programminggeek wrote: post #37

Here's my favorite part, moz was originally probably used because SEO's favorite directory was/is the open directory project or just "dmoz" as it is known to SEO's. And, in the early days, a great SEO strategy was to volunteer to manage/moderate a category, so that it would be easier to get your own or clients' sites approved. I'm not sure if Rand was one of those SEO people playing that game, but it's ironic that "m…

Here's a post that Rand wrote about the origin of Moz in SEOmoz - http://moz.com/blog/what-does-the-moz-in-seomoz-mean

EDIT tl;DR based off the [moz] that was so popular years ago that stood for openness and transparency. DMOZ and others are included in this history.

Re: How SEOMoz sent us a takedown notice.

#48

Post by unreal37 »

jennita wrote: post #10
benatkin wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So apparently you worked for seomoz, and maybe you currently work for moz. Why not disclose that? http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnfdoherty Those comments don't make seomoz look any better. Look at the date when doz.com was purchased.

I'd say we're not trying to "look any better" we just want to be sure both sides of the situation are out there.

You work for Moz too. The whole Moz company is here defending yourselves without identifying your employer.

Re: How SEOMoz sent us a takedown notice.

#49

Post by seodoz »

jennita wrote: post #23
coldcode wrote: post #12

Check out all the variations on http://?oz.com . Will you sue all of them for confusion? 3 letter word trademark arguments are pretty lame. Actually some of the ?oz.com sites are pretty bizarre.

It's not just the name. Doz in and of itself has no meaning similar to Moz. The issue is the combination of name + tool focus.

Time to take rand's cheesy dick out of your mouth.

Re: How SEOMoz sent us a takedown notice.

#50

Post by MartinCron »

ValentineC wrote: post #34
MartinCron wrote: post #18

There's a particular irony that the Moz folks think that the Doz name is too similar to be allowed, when they're using an abbreviation for Mozilla that has been around for years and years.

Heh, as someone who's only heard about Moz/SEOmoz recently, I did think that they were related to Mozilla in some way. On the other hand, it could be trademark law that's screwed up, because I understand that there may be dilution at stake if they don't defend their trademark.

there may be dilution at stake if they don't defend their trademark

I don't buy it. Give me an example of a company that lost trademark protection because they merely allowed another company with a similar name to exist and I'll eat my hat.

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