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Law, legalities when using trademarks in meta tags


Martin Manion

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Hey Guys,

 

I figured this would fit best in the SEO section, but feel free to move it (like I have choice :) ). This is mostly a USA specific concern, so you non-USA based folk may have a whole entire different issue to contend with.

 

Anyway, I am in the process of starting a review website for patients. One of the topics or concerns that I stumbled upon was the use of hospital names that are trademarked (these can be identified here: http://www.uspto.gov/). According to the Lanham Act, we can use any trademark if the use in question is considered "fair use." When I looked this law up, it states in section 4A that the trademark holders cannot take action when "Fair use of a famous mark by another person in comparative commercial advertising or promotion to identify the competing goods or services of the owner of the famous mark."

 

As someone who is not a lawyer, this seems to be a very subjective and ambiguous concept.

 

My question to the community is have any among you dealt with the legal ramifications of using trademarked names on your site and/or meta tags? I could be making a big deal out of this and it could be something I shouldn't worry about, but i figure I might as well see what this community of experts thinks  ;D

 

Thanks guys!

 

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