View Full Version : Can somebody just do this??
marocnl
Thu 4th Sep '03, 10:16am
I just saw that somebody uses my domainname as one of the adwords on google. So everytime someone types in my domainname he gets the banner of another site displayed in the right corner.
Why does Google accept this? Isn't this illegal?
vB3Dev.Com
Thu 4th Sep '03, 10:35am
Yes it is illegal. Impersonating someone or another company/entity is illegal.
Max
Wayne Luke
Thu 4th Sep '03, 10:38am
Actually it depends on your domain name... If your domain name is made up of common words then no it is not illegal. Google's advertising works on keywords and they can be compound words. Google does it because they need to make money.
If the site is selling itself to your customers as you then it is illegal. If they are just capitalizing on keywords to compete with you then it isn't.
marocnl
Thu 4th Sep '03, 10:44am
Actually it depends on your domain name... If your domain name is made up of common words then no it is not illegal. Google's advertising works on keywords and they can be compound words. Google does it because they need to make money.
If the site is selling itself to your customers as you then it is illegal. If they are just capitalizing on keywords to compete with you then it isn't.
It's like i was to buy the keyword vbulletin.com and have my ad show in the right corner whenever somebody searches on that word.
My domainname is a name of a country --> maroc.nl (the .NL is the extension in Holland for top-level-domains). So unless he is offering maroc.nl, he is just trying to steel visitors by impersonating he has anything to do with maroc.nl.
Wayne Luke
Thu 4th Sep '03, 11:02am
When I search at google for the word "Maroc" I get a perfume ad on the left. There are no premium ads at all.
When I search for "maroc.nl" there are no ads at all on the page.
This is at www.google.com (http://www.google.com).
ffaBen
Thu 4th Sep '03, 11:15am
When I search at google for the word "Maroc" I get a perfume ad on the left. There are no premium ads at all.
When I search for "maroc.nl" there are no ads at all on the page.
This is at www.google.com (http://www.google.com).
http://www.google.nl/search?q=maroc.nl&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=nl&btnG=Google+zoeken&lr=
;) Although it all looks double dutch to me.... oh wait! :D
marocnl
Thu 4th Sep '03, 11:36am
When I search at google for the word "Maroc" I get a perfume ad on the left. There are no premium ads at all.
When I search for "maroc.nl" there are no ads at all on the page.
This is at www.google.com. (http://www.google.com.)
:) Well, it's only displayed on google.nl.
Wayne Luke
Thu 4th Sep '03, 12:34pm
Same exact advertising shows up on a simple Maroc search at google.nl. Simply seems to be that they bought the keyword maroc. When you search for maroc.nl in the standard text box, you are actually searching for three things: maroc, nl, maroc.nl.
Since you said that your domain name is the native name of a country there is really nothing you can do about it. You cannot trademark a country name.
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