QUESTION
I have recently come across a number of review websites online, that use names of products to rank for different keywords. Is this legal.
Asked on May 02nd, 2012 on Business Law - Florida
More details to this question:
These review sites sound like they have fair and honest assessments of these products, however, I notice usually down the bottom of the review page they will have a banner or link to check out a product that the reviewer owns or is promoting. This conduct is mainly used by affiliate marketers; but the real question I wanted to know was: Is it legal?
1 ANSWER
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1 Award
The answer is "maybe." As a general matter, it is lawful to refer to the name of your competitor's trademarked product in advertising. The purpose of trademark law is to avoid consumer confusion regarding the origin or sponsorship of goods. There is no possibility that an ordinarily sophisticated reader of such a site would believe that the site originated or was sponsored by one of the named products. Of course, this result could vary if the content of the site was false or misleading.
Answered on May 02nd, 2012 at 7:30 AM