Re: Estee Lauder sues Excite over keywords
RICHARD HOY WROTE:
> I knew such a suit was going to happen sooner or later. Two
> years ago we had a pharmaceutical client for which we wanted
> to do a keyword banner campaign. We discovered that their
> competitor had bought our client's trademarked product names
> as keywords. When I told Yahoo (where it was happening) that
> these were trademarked names, their response was that if we
> paid for the words they would take them away from the
> competitor and give them to us. But only if we paid for it.
> Otherwise, Yahoo would sell the words to whoever was willing
> to pay for them.
<SNIP>
> More power to Estee Lauder. I hope they win. Using other
> peoples trademarks in this manner is dirty pool at best.
>
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In the linked article there is plenty of ammunition for a
defense by the Fragrance Counter and Excite.
I would add the following link which explains trademark
infringement in detail:
http://www.ipww.com/may96/p12us.html
What Excite/Fragrance Counter have done is no more "dirty
pool" than Chevrolet placing a billboard on the freeway in
front of a Ford dealership. Would Estee' Lauder be upset
because Emerald Perfume (fictitious name) placed a large
space adv. in the yellow pages next to their listing?
Come on Richard, Excite has neither deterred or halted
delivery of the Estee' Lauder sites or links. This is no
more "dirty pool" than brand comparisons which are a legally
proven and ethically acceptable form of advertising. No
where are the Estee' Lauder trademarks being displayed ...
so where is the infringement?
Karl Zetmeir
President
Interactive Innovations, Inc.
Defining Opportunities ... Delivering Solutions!
V 913-897-7078
F 913-685-3470
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Received on Mon Feb 01 1999 - 08:00:15 CST
