Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Ticketmaster Sues Microsoft comments in Ad Bytes

Steven Heath (Steven_Heath_at_grey.net)
Tue, 13 May 1997 19:21:31 -0500 (CDT)

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"Steven Heath" <Steven_Heath_at_grey.net> wrote:

>You actually go to a MS page that has further info on the events and then
>a link to the TM site. Also on a side note that page has, guess what,
>banner ads on it. Thus they seem to be using the TicketMaster name to drive
>impressions to their ad.
>
>It seems that TickerMaster wants MS to stop gaining ad dollars of its name
>for free. It wants a cease and desist or a share of the money.

Are you suggesting that simply because the Ticketmaster name is on a page,
Microsoft's pages are somehow more "advertisable?" I don't think this is a
case at all because in the Web Week article quotes their senior vice
president for multimedia as saying:

"We have no issue with them linking to the home page--thousands of
sites do that,..."

So if they just wanted the Ticketmaster name, they could just link to the
homepage.

Another quote in that article from a law professor at Seton Hall University
sums up the true issue:

"The question here is whether Microsoft really is
'trading' on Ticketmaster's reputation-- after all,
the purpose of the link is to send people to
Ticketmaster and to give them more business,..."

Microsoft is providing a convenience that helps draw traffic; and
Tickmaster is benefiting by being the easiest place that traffic can go to
for tickets. In online marketing, you strive for those sorts of synergistic
relationships.

Frankly, I think the whole lawsuit is more sour grapes than anything else.
The Web Week article goes on to say that Microsoft and Ticketmaster tried
to do a cross-marketing deal but negotiations fell through. I appears that
despite the breakdown, Microsoft sort of got what it wanted by just
linking; and Ticketmaster is pissed off about it.

richard
moderator

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