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How SEOMoz sent us a takedown notice.

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Re: How SEOMoz sent us a takedown notice.

#31

Post by MartinCron »

andrewdumont wrote: post #8

Pulling over my comments on the matter from Inbound.org. Anji mentions a partnership in his post that I wanted to put come context behind. > When Anji reached out to us initially, they were CapSEO. At the time, I had no idea Doz existed, or that CapSEO was rebranding. As Anji and I talked, the discussion was around the functionality of CapSEO, which I saw as complementary. Later the discussion moved to their plans to…

There's obvious confusion and brand dilution of Moz that can come as a result, and it's our duty to protect our trademark

I just can't agree with this assertion. There is not a legitimate fear that you're going to lose trademark protection just because someone is using a similar (but obviously different) name. This isn't the same thing as Xerox or Kleenex turning into a general noun, this is just shameful bullying.

Re: How SEOMoz sent us a takedown notice.

#33

Post by benatkin »

benatkin wrote: post #7
dohertyjf wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a Global Associate for Moz and I work for Distilled, who took over Moz's consulting business when they went fulltime in SAAS. edited because I was a jerk Next, doesn't matter when the domain was purchased. What matters is the date that the trademark, or the intent to use a trademark, was filed.

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.

I didn't mean to be harsh in my initial reply, and questions are a way to avoid being harsh. If you see yourself often using this HN account to talk about seomoz I suggest putting it in your HN profile, that way if you don't disclose in a future comment, the next person may just make a note. In fact I thought of doing that but didn't, partly because I was curious whether you still worked for Moz, because in most places, like your blog, it just says "Distilled".

And your comment is pretty neutral on the face of it, but if you read between the lines it's a defense of seomoz. That's why I wondered if you were connected to them, since you left the first comment it seemed that you may have received a google alert.

Apology accepted.

Re: How SEOMoz sent us a takedown notice.

#34

Post by ValentineC »

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.

Re: How SEOMoz sent us a takedown notice.

#35

Post by Fuzzwah »

dohertyjf wrote: post #9
dohertyjf wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a Global Associate for Moz and I work for Distilled, who took over Moz's consulting business when they went fulltime in SAAS. edited because I was a jerk Next, doesn't matter when the domain was purchased. What matters is the date that the trademark, or the intent to use a trademark, was filed.

Thanks Ben. Didn't realize it was against rules to not disclose that I'm affiliated with Moz. Will correct in the future.

You need rules to guide you on the fact that when you wade into a comment thread about the company you work for, its probably best to make that fact obvious?

Re: How SEOMoz sent us a takedown notice.

#36

Post by aetimmes »

examancer wrote: post #19
andrewdumont wrote: post #8

Pulling over my comments on the matter from Inbound.org. Anji mentions a partnership in his post that I wanted to put come context behind. > When Anji reached out to us initially, they were CapSEO. At the time, I had no idea Doz existed, or that CapSEO was rebranding. As Anji and I talked, the discussion was around the functionality of CapSEO, which I saw as complementary. Later the discussion moved to their plans to…

I love the outpouring of empathy in the language of responses from Moz. Too bad at the end the end you still decide to stick to your guns and assert there is "obvious confusion and brand dilution". Really?!? Are you really supporting the idea that potential customers of Moz, who go out in search of Moz and stumble on Doz, would confuse the two? Sure, they share two out of three letters, but they don't sound the same…

>Are you really supporting the idea that potential customers of Moz, who go out in search of Moz and stumble on Doz, would confuse the two?

With a Hamming distance of one between the names, why wouldn't this be plausible?

Re: How SEOMoz sent us a takedown notice.

#37

Post by programminggeek »

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 "moz" came from an open directory and is now fighting about trademarks.

What's next? Patent trolling? ;)

Re: How SEOMoz sent us a takedown notice.

#38

Post by ppradhan »

when google came, i was constantly confusing it with yahoo... because both of the companies have two 'O's in their names.

us customers are so dumb.

finally, i picked a side and chose to use google. this had nothing to do with the fact that google's product was BETTER. i was simply duped into it. goddammit!

Re: How SEOMoz sent us a takedown notice.

#39

Post by unreal37 »

examancer wrote: post #19
andrewdumont wrote: post #8

Pulling over my comments on the matter from Inbound.org. Anji mentions a partnership in his post that I wanted to put come context behind. > When Anji reached out to us initially, they were CapSEO. At the time, I had no idea Doz existed, or that CapSEO was rebranding. As Anji and I talked, the discussion was around the functionality of CapSEO, which I saw as complementary. Later the discussion moved to their plans to…

I love the outpouring of empathy in the language of responses from Moz. Too bad at the end the end you still decide to stick to your guns and assert there is "obvious confusion and brand dilution". Really?!? Are you really supporting the idea that potential customers of Moz, who go out in search of Moz and stumble on Doz, would confuse the two? Sure, they share two out of three letters, but they don't sound the same…

I didn't know "a moron in a hurry" was an actual legal concept. Very interesting.
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