Want to work your way up in SERPs? Get and share ideas on link building, on/off page optimizing, social SEO and more.

Trademark infringement with SEO - How to prevent it?

Moderator
superaff
Posts: 354
Joined: 09 Sep 06
Trust:

Trademark infringement with SEO - How to prevent it?

Hi Mark, I received an eamail about trademark violation for one of my landing pages. I want to know what I should do to protect myself in affiliate business. (basic things).

I think those contacted me because I have a better ranking for the word nodebt...

I just want to know what I should do to be safe in my affiliate business. (I am non US).

I verified and it is their trademark:

=============== start email:

Dear MYNETMARKETINGLAND,

Nodebt is our Trademark registration # 2913917.

Please be advised that you DO NOT have authorization to use, link to or
facilitate the use of our trademark "nodebt" in any way.

Please cease and desist ALL use and links of this term immediately. See
below example and correspondence.

If you have any questions, please call me toll free at 888-747-8683.

Sincerely,

Virginia Swanson
Legal Department
Debt Solutions USA, Inc.
Toll Free: 888-747-8683
Fax: 305-735-8183
Debt Consolidation Ebook | Get Out of Debt
"ATTENTION: Debt Consolidation Exclusive Method..." Discover The Insider Secret to Get Out Of Debt... And Be Successful In Life With Our Exclusive Debt ...
http://www.mynetmarketingland.com/nodebt.html - 9k - Cached - Similar pages
  • 1
Did you see the amazing case studies on my blog http://mynetmarketingland.com/blog1/
Affiloblueprint Bonus: http://www.mynetmarketingland.com/mark-ling/affiloblueprint.html
 
PremiumMember
chatyak86
Posts: 1085
Joined: 17 Jun 06
Trust:
Did all you use was a logo? Were you promoting their product? If you were promoting their product and they won't let you use an image I would dump them.

Adrian,
  • 1
PremiumMember
promocode
Posts: 201
Joined: 05 Sep 06
Trust:
That's a great question Superaff - I got the same type of letter for using the term botox in one of my sites. :shock:

I guess the safe thing to do is check out any keywords that might be trademarked before using them rather than build up a page, only to have to take it down because of trademark infringement :cry:

Here's something I found that might be helpful:
http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/jun01/kennedy.htm

Good Luck To You,
PC
PS did you check to see if they have an affiliate program? :lol:
  • 1
Moderator
superaff
Posts: 354
Joined: 09 Sep 06
Trust:
It was not a website that I was promoting. It was just an html page (squeeze) to get some people with debt problems in my opt in and talk to them about how Affiliat marketing will help them..

Thanks for the excellent article.
  • 1
Did you see the amazing case studies on my blog http://mynetmarketingland.com/blog1/
Affiloblueprint Bonus: http://www.mynetmarketingland.com/mark-ling/affiloblueprint.html
 
PremiumMember
sean06
Posts: 1004
Joined: 16 Jun 06
Trust:
If "nodebt" is their trademark, can't you just put a space between the two words??

All seems a bit finicky to me.
  • 1
www.SixDayWeekend.com
Free Training Videos reveal how I make 6 figures while travelling the world
 
Moderator
superaff
Posts: 354
Joined: 09 Sep 06
Trust:
I think I can do that. But actually, it was an old page that I didn't even remember. It's funny.

It was just a squeeze page... I was planning to remove it anyway!
  • 1
Did you see the amazing case studies on my blog http://mynetmarketingland.com/blog1/
Affiloblueprint Bonus: http://www.mynetmarketingland.com/mark-ling/affiloblueprint.html
 
PremiumMember
danklein
Posts: 13
Joined: 19 Jun 06
Trust:
Hey Superaff.

If they are not threatening you with legal action I would continue using
the nodebt keyword. You are their competition which they do not want.

I am not an expert on this. What are Mark's thought's on this ?

danklein 8)
  • 1
PremiumMember
promocode
Posts: 201
Joined: 05 Sep 06
Trust:
danklein wrote:Hey Superaff.

If they are not threatening you with legal action I would continue using
the nodebt keyword. You are their competition which they do not want.

I am not an expert on this. What are Mark's thought's on this ?

danklein 8)


It's funny you should say that Dan,

with my botox keyword, my knee jerk reaction was to hurry and remove the keyword... but then I thought about it. I had just submitted a few articles for the site and had used the keyword botox as ancher text. I didn't want to waste those efforts so I left the site and botox page up.

I figured if they were going to sue me I would get some sort of "official" cease and desist letter - not an email. So I left the site and keyword intack... I hope I'm not sitting on a ticking bomb here but I never got another note about it :roll:
  • 1
Moderator
superaff
Posts: 354
Joined: 09 Sep 06
Trust:
Thanks everybody for your support.

Right now, me and my familly ae living from affiliate programs, and I can't afford to mess up with anything, although I think that it's a trick to get the top for the kw: "nodebt".

When I am stronger I will not move for that, but until then...

I just want to know how I can protect myself in the future.

I will read promocode's article.
  • 1
Did you see the amazing case studies on my blog http://mynetmarketingland.com/blog1/
Affiloblueprint Bonus: http://www.mynetmarketingland.com/mark-ling/affiloblueprint.html