How far can you go with your company blog?
I’ve just noticed that I spend half my time on BLOGthenticity asking everybody for advice. I do apologise if it’s looks like I’m turning the whole affair into the equivalent of a blogging Maury Povich. But, I’d like to think they’re all relevant questions in some way and may serve as examples to others concerned about similar issues.
We have a competitor that stole our idea, stole the name and even copied the meta tags to our site word for word - a simple copy and paste job. They even stole one of our cheesy slogans. It’s not that I’m frightened of the competition - I actually sent them a nice email mentioning their efforts had not gone unnoticed. I also suggested it might be a decent idea to collaborate on certain things seeming we can produce the same products for appreciably less.
They agreed to change the meta tags and we even spoke over the phone about us providing them with their goods. However, the whole thing stalled once our suggested meeting with them was refused. We smelled a bit of a rat. We’d been asked to price a couple of jobs, but knowing what they’d done, coupled with their refusal to meet us led us to think this was an exercise in comparing pricing.
Since then, we haven’t heard a dicky bird, but they now rank #2 behind our #1 on Google having piggy-backed all the way. Even though there’s a copyright statement on our site, we haven’t registered any trademarks and probably don’t have any legal recourse. They also haven’t changed any of their meta tags.
I’m going to send another email, but if that fails to work, I’m considering using our company blog as a naming and shaming exercise. I know I can get said post ranking somewhere near in a couple of days, but I’m unsure as to using a blog in such a way. Do you think it’s unscrupulous, underhanded, or fair game?
Do you also think it’s worth trying as an experiment?
Is there anyone who has done this on their blog already?
Or is this just an example of PR crisis blogging?
Filed under: Business Blogging, Paul
Well, given the nature of blogs … I think, if done right, you could do the naming and shaming thing with grace and humor. So, let them know you know … and, let others know it, too.
There are potential pitfalls, but not really any for those that know your sense of humor. I’d do it.
Since you mentioned Google, have you considered filing a DMCA intellectual property complaint with Google?
Google’s DMCA policy and complaint forms are at:
http://www.google.com/dmca.html
Rather than attempt to shame, which may open liability for libel or slander, the DMCA route would likely provide legal cover.
I don’t know whether I’ll get away with a DMCA report……I’ve read of many a webmaster who’s had huge swathes of content stolen for them only to be poo-pooed by the messiahs at Google.
At the end of the day I suppose it’s hard cheese. It also goes to show what happens when you can’t afford to trademark something.
We live and learn.