Why they picking on the little people?

Here is a neat article from Harvard's website talking about Copyright infringement, fair use policy and legal defenses:

Copyright Basics

So now your next blog post goes into how the big company is picking on you. Leverage what is presented. When life hands you lemons .. find a friend with vodka.

I'm not quite sure of the specifics, but I'd guess it's because you're an easier target?

I have 2 recommendations:

1) In the future, ask for their permission before you put their information on your site.

2) Take off the information of the company giving you a hard time.

Don't make it more difficult than it really is!

These big name companies get rich by picking on the little guy, it's sad but true. Next time you should ask for permission but I guarantee they won't give it. I'm sorry for your troubles, I know it must be frustrating.

If they are posting this information openly .. scroooo them ... with the power of social media, you can do them more harm than good if they want to play that game.

Now that you deleted them you should write to them and say that you normally charge for the free listing they had.

Seriously, who cares? I don't think they're picking on you at all. Weird stuff happens all the time online. You didn't do anything wrong so delete their silly link and go on about your business. Don't spend another drop of energy fretting about it.

Check with your lawyer before trying this.

Keep the name of the company on your site. Put up a notice in big, black words that you removed the information because they bullied you. Then...include a link directly to that company's own webpage that has the info.



Granted, there may be a few flaws with this plan, but it should keep all parties happy.

All the best,
Michael

Some of them just do it to show that their are protecting their brand and trademarks (even if you do not infringe at all).

Everyone I list on my site I contact first, or they contact me, either way it works because they're getting free advertisement on a pretty well known site, which equals sales a lot of times, and I'm getting quality content/deals to bring in traffic. I don't make much on it and it's not really worth my time, but i'm a fan of the niche and maybe one day i'll make decent money at it. That being said I did have a provider get smart with me, a Canada guy who was upset he didn't get any sales on my site and felt the need to talk down, etc...I pulled his ad immediately, and truth be told the reason he got no sales was because his offer sucked. So my point is you get all types, some who recognize the benefits of free advertisement and some who don't, but I recommend you start an open dialog with them ahead of time.

If you mention anyone in any way they can pick on you it's not fair but it's true. it's happened to me to so I try not to use anyone's content, images, songs or talk in any way shape or form. I also got picked on for answering a question (without laying) about someone, so now I just don't tell anything about others. I just do my thing talk about my thing. So far I'm allowed to do that. I know it's not fair (or American).

I appreciate everyones feedback, to be honest I was expecting to be chastised over this. I will take the advice given, thank you!

I like the idea of sticking it to them and causing waves, but I'd consult a lawyer first...the last thing you want is serious legal ramifications for trying to run up against the big boys. They got there by running over enough people, and prolly won't hesitate to make another example out of a "little guy".

If you can, I'd make waves using social media, that **** has the power to really stick it to them, but again, be careful. Libel lawsuits are no joke.

So, how exactly would this play into those "directory" sites that are all over the place?

A link is a link, right? I'd be happy to see a link to my site on directories, sites, etc.

I agree with Travelin Guy, delete it and move on.

One of the unfortunate risks of the IM game.
as charles Barkley would say: "Turr-bull, turr-bull"

Vince aka makingiants

A lot of confusion about this issue, from what I see.

Check with a business lawyer for the greatest clarity, and take all of us forum posters only half-seriously, as people will say things on a forum and have no idea what they are talking about. People just give their opinions.

So, with that preface...No, I don't think it's trademark or copyright infringement at all to simply give the contact information of another company on your website. Companies that don't want anyone else mentioning them on their websites and think you could somehow be "making money off of their name" are severely misguided and stupid. Also, they are probably greedy and paranoid.

There are ways you can cross the line and can infringe on trademarks, copyrights, etc. but from what I've seen, you were not even close to anything like that.

Just because a company wants you to remove their contact info from your website does not mean you have to do so. For example, a company may be really upset that a certain newspaper gives them bad press based on things that have happened. This newspaper is making money off of that company's name, for sure. But as long as they stick to the facts, they have every right to comment on that company and the company can't do anything about it.

See what I mean?

We can't control what people say about us and demand they never speak our name or give information about us, as long as that information is publicly available and that person is not lying about us to cause us harm.

Also, as long as it's clear you are not acting like you represent the company or are affiliated with the company and you are not using their company name in your domain and are not committing any copyright infringement, you are likely in the clear.

That said, if it means nothing to you to just take down their info, that solves the headache quickly.

But if they are going around demanding any website remove mention of their company and demanding removal of links from legitimate websites, they are stupid in my opinion. They are getting rid of free, non-spammy backlinks. Makes no sense and just shows they are misguided.

silly question maybe: but are you sure the person who contacted you was a representative of that particular company and not just someone trying to scam you?? especially, if you don't even rank for that company. I have had a few come to my site who couldn't possibly have found my site organically. I swear there must be a spam forum out there somewhere passing out website addresses.

The big ones picking on the small ones... Sounds like pretty normal...

So much "blah, blah, blah" on this thread. LOL

This happened because a bored attorney needed some billable time to add to his invoice.

There are a bunch of companies out there that make money by:

1. Finding trademark infringements and sending a cease-and-desist; and

2. Doing Reputation Management, cleaning up bad press online.


Both create a lot of bad press, by letting their computer robots make the determination as to who to contact, without seeing the usage of the business name or link in context.

Both assume that everyone is guilty, rather than taking a moment to see what is bad and what is in fair use.

LOL

Next time, just take down the listing in question, but don't take down your site.

Then go get a Life Saver to get the bad taste out of your mouth. :p

It's just the fun of establishing a new business/site.

Just make it clear that you don't have an affiliation with any of the companies on your site and you should be OK.

Hi there,

This is a pretty odd occurrence. If in fact you were an affiliate and you had the companies name in your domain, and the whole site was built around it - then that may be a difference scenario.

However, if you're just providing the companies information in relation to the niche of the product you're selling (even though I'm not quite sure what you're selling), then that should be fine.

They're just trying to protect their brand, and profits, it isn't personal. Either way, since you took down their info now, you should be OK!

Just a quick update, I emailed them back and told them whats up (That their allegations were wrong, gave them stats yadda yadda yadda). They never responded since then. But a few days later from my last conversation with them all of a sudden my website traffic went from 60-70 uniques a day to no more than 5 uniques a day, and thats on a good day now. I checked to see if I was de-indexed but I wasn't, nor was I penalized. Maybe it was just a coincident? Anyway I guess thats that, just continue building back links like normal and see what happens from there.

I did setup a webmaster account with Google when I first launched the site and as of today haven't received any messages and it continues to show an increase of pages being indexed from my sitemap.

I think it is always beneficial to ask a company to use their information beforehand, even if you aren't making money off of them. I would just take the info down, and be done with it. Everything is a learning experience. Good luck in the future!