25 replies to this topic

[Bernard]

"Buying" Harley Davidson would not be a copyright violation. It would be a trademark infringement.

[Username]

Sorry for the goof, that's what I had meant.

[don1]

Gosh, I just ran into one of these from the west coast. Only $5,000 for a single term. The small print says the second year renewal fees will be the same. The order form says that I state that the words and keywords in my order do not infringe any trademark, service mark or any copyright of any third party and I agree that they will not be responsible for any such infringement (So unlike in the "non-intellectual property" world being in possession of stolen property is not a crime). They also claim in the last 30 days there were 37,749,506 keyword searches and 290,062 keywords were resolved. Those are big numbers. It's got to work.

The only problems I see are:

1. Whomever built their website didn't take into account my browser, so the text is messed up. (They are the Pro's. Shouldn't they test this stuff?)

2. Halmark has registered the term we would use but we don't even sell the same things (not even close).

3. What if you are a business that has something like (I'll make this up) credit.com as a domain and (this part is from their website) Mastercard has registered "Credit" as their term? Where does the browser go? If I were either company and it were going to the other I would be quite upset. Wait, I would be upset as a user and were directed to the wrong site.

I would really like someone like anngcook to help and explain all of this as I am not even in this industry, but am a small business owner trying to promote his business in the best ways.

Don1

[Jill]

I would really like someone like anngcook to help and explain all of this as I am not even in this industry, but am a small business owner trying to promote his business in the best ways.

Then you'll want to stay far, far way from buying keywords from companies that require a browser plug-in to work.

Unless, of course, your target market are total imbeciles who think browser plug ins are cool.

Jill

[OldWelshGuy]

As soon as these guys start to make an impression, the lawyers will come down on them like a ton of bricks. Ok so you can buy 'motorcycles' as a keyword, but no way can they sell 'harley Davidson' its a registered trademark around the globe.

football would be ok, 'American Football' would be ok, 'NFL' that would last about a week before UPS knocked your door with a package that would choke an elephant (there i go again with the elephant, always the elephant) containing the phrase 'cease and desist'


I have had customers who are being called with promises of all the gold they can eat, its pooh

[OldWelshGuy]

Jill
would these people be the ones who download that dancing lady thing? one of my coustomers has more plugins that the electricity company.. he also holds the county record for 'most often formatted hard drive'

sad sad sad, sadder than that is that these people are making money by ripping off customers.


The first thing i do when i experience something dodgy while browsing is shut down the browser, if i click on something and get sent somewhere else no way on gods earth would i spend my money with that compan that hijacked me.

Take that there lop (please take it and shoot it) apparently the most hated piece of scum ever coded, but people are paying to go on it? WHY < rant over>

[don1]

The first thing i do when i experience something dodgy while browsing is shut down the browser, if i click on something and get sent somewhere else no way on gods earth would i spend my money with that compan that hijacked me.

Ahh, but you are an experienced person (my assumption) in this field and therefore that makes you unable to see as a lay person does (not that this is a bad thing).

Imagine, if you will, that you are one of the growing population of infant Browser Boomers and you type in an address that as you say hijacks your browser. What is your reaction?

1. Shut everything down and start over because some evil entity has possesed your machine?
2. Close a window here and there, then give up on the task at hand because you are new to this and are embarrased to ask for help?
3. Adapt to this new form of advertising because, "This must just be the way it is on the internet"?
4. Some other reaction that is not coming to me as of yet.

My point (I think) is, that people react differently, or maybe, there is more than one way to skin a cat. If there are so many of these hijack-ware out there, is it because they do not work at all or because they fill a niche?

I am not promoting these, them, they, whomever but would like to hear/read response by anyone reading this thread who has had positive experience with keyword ownership, especially after seeing how irritated anngcook seemed with the previous posts.

p.s. Anybody for answering previous question #3? Where does the browser go?

[Randy]

My guess on your question #3 from above is that if someone typed in "Credit" they would be forwarded to Mastercards site. And if they typed in "Credit.com" they would be sent to that site as long as they typed it into their browser's address bar. That's the way it's supposed to work anyway, the .com should tell the browser that it needs to go query it's DNS server for the site IP address. But who can tell what would happen if the plugin had hijacked their browser.

On your post just above Don1, judging by how I have to go over to my mother's every few months to delete stuff off of her computer which she has downloaded and installed without even realizing it just so that the machine will function...

I'd have to go with your choice three. They attempt to adapt because they don't know any better.

The sad part is, lately my aunt's have heard about my services. So they all started packing up their computers and bringing them over for cleaning day at Mom's because they do the exact same thing. :laugh: They "pay me" by viewing my sites before they go live to make sure they can get around the site okay and let me know if something doesn't make sense. Nothing like having a group of novice testers. :tooth:

[don1]

So they all started packing up their computers and bringing them over for cleaning day at Mom's because they do the exact same thing.

Oh my gosh, what a hoot! I hope they use laptops or something small like iMacs. I'm imagining sweet silver haired ladies loading huge PCs with Triniton monitors into a boyfriend's compact hybrid car trunk.

[BrianR]

What a great way to pay for a permanent user testing panel, Randy!

BrianR

[Randy]

I hope they use laptops or something small like iMacs. I'm imagining sweet silver haired ladies loading huge PCs with Triniton monitors into a boyfriend's compact hybrid car trunk.

hehheh None of 'em are exactly sweet Don. But then again that goes without saying since they're related to moi. :halo:

Most of them have full-sized computers. But they only bring their cases. I take over a couple of my (seemingly multiplying) spare monitors and old keyboards. Better for them. And much easier for me to set up a little production line on the kitchen table.

I've got it down to a science. Doing two at a time I can clean everybody up in 45 minutes or less.

Brian: Well it works for me anyway. Much better than paying for that type of feedback! It's not like I wouldn't be fixing their computers eventually...they break 'em and the first person they call is yours truly. I view cleaning day as a bit of preventive maintenance.