A Search Engine Ad Initiates Lawsuit By Namesafe
A recent lawsuit filed by NameSafe against LifeLock introduced an intriguing legal question. NameSafe’s suit againstLifeLock alleges that theyused their trademarked name on search engine advertising.
The suitwas launched in the Middle District of Tennessee and alleges that Lifelock attempted to steal their trademark and divert traffic from NAMESAFE.com.In a press release by NameSafe founder and Chief Executive Officer David Ridings stated
“We have discovered that LifeLock has been sponsoring advertisements on most major search engines including (among others) Google, Yahoo, Lycos, MSN, Dogpile, and AOL, that deceptively led consumers to Lifelock.com. Specifically, when you searched ‘Namesafe.com’ in any major search engine, you found an advertisement that said ‘Namesafe.com’ but when you clicked on it, you were not directed to the official site for NAMESAFE (www.namesafe.com), but rather to our competitor, LifeLock.com. It is one of the most bizarre attempts to steal a company brand and its costumers that I have personally seen. Ironically enough, we consider it a form of ‘corporate identity theft’ from a company that is in the business of protecting identities, and we really could not tolerate it. Having said that, we expect it will stop today.”
According to CNET LifeLock denied bidding on trademarked names.
“Following notice of a pending lawsuit from WSMV in Nashville, TN on Thursday, we immediately began an investigation and determined that LifeLock Corporation has never purchased any competitive branded search terms. To be clear, LifeLock Corporation has never used the ‘NameSafe’ name in LifeLock ad copy.”
Identity Theft Labs states in an article on Namesafe that it was very common for an ID theft company to be bidding on each others trademarked terms.
The real question that needs to be answered then is whether or not you are the only one allowed to bid on your trademarked names.
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