Archive: August, 2010

Everyone knows there are applications known as Facebook, Twitter and handfuls of others but what many

people are still slow to understand is the power that these applications hold.

To most people, these social media sites are nothing more than a way to stay in touch with your “BFF” or a

great place to use the “LOL” abbreviation.

The problem starts when this assumption affects your decision making process, and the value of a well

developed social media build is either discounted or dismissed.

The hidden benefit is that these sites are also a powerful traffic driving tool at your disposal, and most of us

overlook this importance or are ignorant on how to best use this to our advantage.

I have heard the dismissive statements made about social media that “its just for teens” or “its unprofessional” or “I

can pay a kid $5 an hour after school to do that.

Those statements are the sound of defeat and ignorance, and a strategy of this nature will guarantee that

you will be watching the competition consistently place ahead of you on the search engines.

For the casual observer, anything with the words “New York” inspires images of the “big apple” and possibly a Frank Sinatra song, but Las Vegas usually is nowhere in the vicinity.

Recently, however, a “New York” sized lawsuit was brought against NewYorkNewYork.com Inc. by MGM, the owner of the New York, New York, attraction casino.

This lawsuit is around the contention that for violating the Anti-cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, the company known as NewYorkNewYork.com Inc. will pay $100,000 for violating the law, and then pay MGM Resorts International  $101,000 in damages.

In addition, the possible rights to the domain name newyorknewyork.com may now reside with MGM, pending further litigation.

To date, the lawsuit is in MGM’s favor but pending the securing of counsel, the defendant promises to return to court.

The Judge in this round of litigation, based his decision around the idea that the case was well proven that both plaintiff and defendant are competitors on the Internet.

It was further established that the defendant registered and used NewYorkNewYork.com with the bad faith intent to profit from it, by using a known trademark in a manner confusingly similar to plaintiff’s marks; essentially demonstrating bad faith usage of NewYorkNewYork.com to obtain web traffic.

Apparently, my Tuesday lunch routine full of beer and tacos, to unwind from a day filled with intellectual property is now linked to my work day; tacos and beer are in the news.

Recently, Budweiser the beer manufacturer and The Iguana Mexican Grill out of Oklahoma City, found out

that they had one thing in common; they both lost battles over Trademark recently.

A European high court ruled that Anheuser-Busch cannot trademark “Budweiser” in Europe, and similarly in

the US, it was found that “Taco Tuesday” was the sole property of Taco John’s.

Anheuser-Busch applied to use the Budweiser trademark in the EU back in 1996 and Anheuser-Busch’s

application was promptly rejected. The Czech Brewery Budejovicky Budvar instead had its rights upheld due

to a long history with the Budweiser mark in Germany and Austria.

This has created a disconcerting precedent for Budweiser in the EU.

Then, in an unrelated move, Taco John’s is ordering owners of Iguana Mexican Grill in Oklahoma City to quit

using the phrase “Taco Tuesday” to promote its weekly $1 dollar taco nights; “Taco Tuesday” was

introduced in 2009 for Iguana Mexican Grill’s first anniversary and has been a popular event ever since.

Google has taken a big enough bite out of the market for too long, if you ask the other search engines.

Speaking of asking, Ask.com relaunches its search engine to take a portion of Google’s traffic.

As expected, most people limit their search options to the top three engines: Google, Yahoo!, and Bing.  Ask.com however recently announced that it will be offering question-and-answer services once again in a bid to catch attention by those same search engines.

With the Google Mayday update, this type of fresh content could be just what the doctor ordered to rejuvenate Ask.com’s traction.

The irony of ask.com using the Google search engine to gain traffic against Google is undeniable.

Many in the industry are asking though if it is too little, too late, considering that Bing and Yahoo are also fighting for marketshare by making their own changes.

Consider that Yahoo is now displaying Microsoft Bing organic and paid search listings. This move could account for up to 25 percent of its search traffic in the U.S. as part of a 10-year pact to take market share from the Google search engine juggernaut.