This juy is ripping my buddy off.

[postaldave]

What the Heck!!!

I am helping a buddy out for awhile, he is recovering from a stroke. So now his calls are coming to me till hes better. Looked at his Yellow page Display Ad ,And What the Heck???? there's his ad at the t0p of the page, And under his 1/4 page ad ,is an competiors ad same name as his bussiness. But is using a web address.
starting with www. Can another bussiness steal you're Name and get away with it by doing this type of scam. What's Youre Take. Postaldave

 

[Mikey P]

Dry and Clean?

 

[Ron Werner]

I'm not sure that the books care any more, as long as they get paid.
I think long gone are the days when they would police there books, ie when you couldn't print a price.

 

[Newman]

But is using a web address.
starting with www. Can another bussiness steal you're Name and get away with it by doing this type of scam. What's Youre Take. Postaldave

Not enough information to determine. From your description, I assume your friend has a company name, registered with the state, that would be somthing like Townsville Carpet Cleaning.

Another company, with a different name like Joes Carpet Cleaning, has bought the URL www.townsvillecarpetcleaning.com and has that web address in his ad.

If this example is close to your situation, your buddy missed the boat on getting the URL. This is not stealing or a scam, just good marketing.

 

[Chris A]

Still a pos thing to do

 

[Royal Man]

If it's www.carpet cleaning "name of town' it's not a rip off as this is the most common web address for local carpet cleaners.

 

[randy]

THE bad news: Unless your buddy trademarked his business name, anyone can legally use "his" name. In fact if they trademark the name they will be the legal owner of the name. The good news: Anyone can check the trademark stats of a name online for free ( search for the patent & trademark office) online. For a filing fee 0f $174.00 you can file your own trademark.

Being incorporated under a certain name, filing a fictitious name (non-incorporated business name) , getting a business licence under the name or operating for years under the name gives you nothing. Someone can trademark the name and stop you from using it.

 

[Hoody]

Is it true that you can't trademark a letter ?

 

[Newman]

Still a pos thing to do

Chris, your business name is Excel Fabric Care but you own the URL
http://carpetcleaninghudson.com/blog/
Did you check with the state to see if that name was registered before buying the URL? I thought not.

That is just good marketing.

 

[Chris A]

The post said it was www.competitorsname.com. Did I miss something? And I agree that area-specific urls are good marketing, they've worked well for us.

 

[Chris A]

...so fo Norm... blowme

 

[Brian R]

Area specific urls or keyword rich urls are good for the customer to remember or for familiarity etc but doesn't do much for SEO.