Woman Spends $17,000 Of Her Own Money To Stop SEO From Being Trademarked
from the now-that's-a-trademark-hero dept
Stephanie Migot writes "Two years ago, the SEO community noticed that somebody they'd never heard of had begun the process of applying for a trademark for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). From the look of things, it was a bit of a power-grab to set standards for which businesses could and could not describe themselves as providing an SEO service.Naturally, the professionals were a bit alarmed, and at one point there were at least four different oppositions in the works. One by one, however, they all dropped out and it was left to a single individual, who paid the legal bills out of her own pocket, costing over $17,000, to get the application thrown out.
This never should have got that far. But what the story also shows is that the reason why so many dubious patents, copyrights and trademarks live on is because once the sound and fury has died down, there are very few who are willing to follow their opposition through to the end. Also, unless you keep a close eye on applications, it might be too late to take effective action before it's too late."
In some ways, it's even worse than Stephanie describes above -- because beyond being costly, it's often just an incredibly complex process to oppose a trademark or to try to invalidate a patent. The system is designed to focus on the approval process -- and not the opposition process.
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Kickstarter
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I wonder if I can trademark PPC? (joking)
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they have
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In fact, trademarks were established to prevent unfair competition, and the served the public policy goal of limiting or preventing confusion with respect to the origin of goods. Those purposes remain valuable.
Of course, as with ALL things, abuse can occur.
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Huh.
I have no idea which dog I have in this fight.
Hrmm.
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DMCA
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She saved us from a proper loon
If he changes it in the future - it currently is a picture of a bleeding Jesus Christ on the cross with this quote:
John 15:18 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."
Full congratulations to Rhea Drysdale for stopping it.
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Another thing judges look at is which side initiated the lawsuit and which side tends to initiate the most lawsuits. Parties that initiate lawsuits also tend to keep judges employed and so judges tend to favor them.
Imagine if judges simply issued a summary judgment for all bogus lawsuits? It would greatly reduce the need for judges and many of them would lose their jobs as a result.
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