NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Question of ethics...
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Question of ethics...
Michael J. Sexton (preinc_at_mail.albany.net)
Tue, 12 Aug 1997 18:31:56 -0500 (CDT)
Not to be in anyone's face but, I did attend law school, although I do not
practice and have not practiced for a long time. Marketing is just a lot
more fun. Anyway, I think companies like Xerox, Coke, and Johnson &
Johnson (makers of Band Aids) would have a tough time enforcing this. They
can threaten all they want. The issue is, can they win?
Take the gateway example. Gateway has been in use in the language for years
before the company took it as a name. Their lawyers can threaten all they
want if I use a common English term on my site, but those threats would be
pretty empty. Canon has a good marketing reason for refering to these
machines as copiers... Never re-enforce the competitons position in your
sales pitch. If I call it a Xerox machine and I work for Canon, aren't I
telling people that Xerox is the standard? Does Taco Bell or KFC say "No
Coke... pepsi" because of a trademark issue, or because Taco Bell and KFC
are both owned by Pepsi and Pepsi wants to promote its own products? My
guess is reason #2 is more important.
If I deprive a client of a keyword that has a standard English meaning that
is important to his or her site then I think that is unethical. My job is
to give the client every advantage I can in the marketplace. If the word
"xerox" means copy (and my dictionary contains that defination) and the site
is devoted to copiers then the word is a keyword. Xerox can bluster all it
wants but that is all it is, bluster.
My 2 cents
Mike
****************************************************************************
Michael J. Sexton
E-mail: preinc_at_albany.net Voice: 518-478-9401
33 Crannell Avenue
Delmar, NY 12054
http://www.albany.net/~preinc/resume.htm
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