Articles and Publications
Intellectual Property and the Internet: Metatags
17/Jan/2006
An overview of Metatags
Metatags consist of key words or other text which are embedded in the web pages. They are invisible to the normal view of a website but are visible to search engines and can thus be searched by them.
As search engines are now big business it is generally accepted that paying for advertising is the most effective way of promoting your website. See related article Googling. However, metatags and key words in text are still a very useful method. The more a key word appears on a site, particularly in invisible text, the higher in the search engine ranking the website will appear. For obvious reasons you want to increase hits on your website but it can also lead to a secondary stream of income through advertising which is linked to the number of hits your website receives.
There is nothing implicitly unlawful about using metatags. However, in the effort to divert traffic from competitors’ websites to their own websites some website owners have run into problems in the areas of trade mark infringement and passing off.
An example of how this could happen is where a website owner places a competitor's trademark in the metatags and hidden text on his website in order to divert searches for that trademark away from the legitimate owner's website to his own. This will amount to trade mark infringement or passing off or both, provided that it is shown that there is confusion.
Some points to note
• Avoid where possible using third-party trade marks or logos in metatags or hidden text.
• Where using a trade mark is unavoidable, seek permission from the owner of the trade mark.
• Because the Internet is inherently global, consider the intellectual rights owned by parties in countries other than the UK.
• Consider the same issues when reserving key words for the purposes of banner advertising or sponsored links on search engines’ websites.
If you are the owner of a trade mark you should do regular and varied searches on a variety of search engines to check that others aren’t using your trade mark. Depending on the perceived threat, comprehensive searches of your competitors’ websites should be carried out to make sure they are not using unlawful means to divert traffic from your website to theirs. If an infringement is found, you can take action against the infringer to ensure that:
a. he deletes the trade marks;
b. he publishes an apology on his website, together with a re-direction to your website;and
c. he pays your losses in the event that you can prove you have made losses due to his use of your trademark.
If you would like to discuss this matter further then please contact one of our Technology or IP specialists on 0845 129 2300.
Other related articles: Googling which looks at the recent case law around trademark infringement and search engine responsibilities.
Intellectual Property and the Internet: Domain Names and Cyber-Squatting.
Metatags consist of key words or other text which are embedded in the web pages. They are invisible to the normal view of a website but are visible to search engines and can thus be searched by them.
As search engines are now big business it is generally accepted that paying for advertising is the most effective way of promoting your website. See related article Googling. However, metatags and key words in text are still a very useful method. The more a key word appears on a site, particularly in invisible text, the higher in the search engine ranking the website will appear. For obvious reasons you want to increase hits on your website but it can also lead to a secondary stream of income through advertising which is linked to the number of hits your website receives.
There is nothing implicitly unlawful about using metatags. However, in the effort to divert traffic from competitors’ websites to their own websites some website owners have run into problems in the areas of trade mark infringement and passing off.
An example of how this could happen is where a website owner places a competitor's trademark in the metatags and hidden text on his website in order to divert searches for that trademark away from the legitimate owner's website to his own. This will amount to trade mark infringement or passing off or both, provided that it is shown that there is confusion.
Some points to note
• Avoid where possible using third-party trade marks or logos in metatags or hidden text.
• Where using a trade mark is unavoidable, seek permission from the owner of the trade mark.
• Because the Internet is inherently global, consider the intellectual rights owned by parties in countries other than the UK.
• Consider the same issues when reserving key words for the purposes of banner advertising or sponsored links on search engines’ websites.
If you are the owner of a trade mark you should do regular and varied searches on a variety of search engines to check that others aren’t using your trade mark. Depending on the perceived threat, comprehensive searches of your competitors’ websites should be carried out to make sure they are not using unlawful means to divert traffic from your website to theirs. If an infringement is found, you can take action against the infringer to ensure that:
a. he deletes the trade marks;
b. he publishes an apology on his website, together with a re-direction to your website;and
c. he pays your losses in the event that you can prove you have made losses due to his use of your trademark.
If you would like to discuss this matter further then please contact one of our Technology or IP specialists on 0845 129 2300.
Other related articles: Googling which looks at the recent case law around trademark infringement and search engine responsibilities.
Intellectual Property and the Internet: Domain Names and Cyber-Squatting.
