Utah Trying To Restrict Keyword Advertising ... Again

Eric Goldman writes "The Utah legislature has tried to restrict keyword advertising twice before, with disastrous results. In 2004, Utah tried to ban keyword advertising in adware; that law was declared unconstitutional. In 2007, Utah tried to regulate competitive keyword advertising; after a firestorm of protests, Utah repealed the law in 2008. Despite this track record, Utah is trying to regulate keyword advertising a third time. HB 450 would allow trademark owners to block competitors from displaying certain types of keyword ads. In practice, this law is just another attempt by the Utah legislature to enact a law that doesn't help consumers at all but does help trademark owners suppress their online competition."

Comments

Process should be fair.

[gravos]

Well, it's one thing if a car dealership who is not Toyota starts buying "Toyota" as a keyword. Arguably this is similar to buying Toyota.com and could be misleading to customers. It's quite another thing if you run a small grocery store called "Toyota" that delivers online in your neighborhood and you start buying Toyota keywords and they try to block you for trademark infringement.

Businesses should be able to protect their trademarks but the process should be fair. Little guys who don't compete in the same market should not get squashed.

Re:Process should be fair.

[dcollins]

Well, it's one thing if a car dealership who is not Toyota starts buying "Toyota" as a keyword. Arguably this is similar to buying Toyota.com and could be misleading to customers.

Totally disagree. If someone gets a consumer reports article that says "Better than a Toyota!", they should be able to promote that information with a keyword ad (among a host of other examples). As long as you're not tricking buyers into thinking some product is a Toyota when it's not, it should be fair game and free speech.

Re:remove the Mormons tag

[LBArrettAnderson]

That just isn't true. Some don't, some do. If you ask me, the smart ones do consider Mormons to be Christians (you know, since they believe in Christ, and all).

Re:remove the Mormons tag

[geobeck]

...even though I am proud of what I believe

Ah, but you're not supposed to be proud in your belief, but humble in it. After all, did not St. James Buffett describe the seven deadly sins thusly:

1. Pride...Thou shalt not have pride in thy neighbor.
2. Coveting...Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
3. Lust...Thou shalt not lust after his neighbor's wife.[sic]
4. Anger...Do not be angry with your neighbor's wife.
5. Gluttony...Do not eat thy neighbor's wife's...popcorn.
6. Envy...Do not envy your neighbor's wife.
7. Sloth...Do not be a slob.
8. And the eighth deadly sin is...PIZZA!

For what it's worth, I know two Mormon couples. They're very nice people, they don't have multiple wives, and are very active in the community. They don't proselytize on the evils of keyword advertising. And that proves this isn't "a Mormon thing" because, as we all know, the plural of "anecdote" is "data".

Re:remove the Mormons tag

[Anonymous Coward]

I think people have an obligation to stand up and say this without fear of reprisal.

Which is sadly not possible. I posted AC not really because of fear of reprisal from the organizations themselves, but because society as a whole views comments like mine as hateful and bigoted (because religions that survive do so in part by convincing people that those who attack religion are bigoted/hateful/evil/enemies/etc). It's fortunate that expression is protected, but even so I prefer not to put myself at risk of being turned down for future jobs, or whatever else might happen, because someone linked my real name to "hate speech."