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I remember working as a private investigator and visiting the United States Patent and Trademark Office way too often as part of my job. And when I read Sarah Bird's post on SEOmoz about an individual named Jason Gambert who is looking to file a trademark for the term SEO, I knew exactly where to go.
The background: an individual named "Mr. Gambert" is trying extremely hard to get his "process" of SEO (or so that's what he claims it is) to be trademarked. He's been rejected but he's been narrowing his scope every so often so that he can persevere and succeed with the trademark filing.
This will hurt the industry heavily if such a thing actually pans out as any SEO could be held accountable (and have to pay) if the trademark goes through.
I encourage anyone interested in pursuing this further to speak with a lawyer (particularly one involved in trademark litigation) to dispute this filing.
Forum discussion continues at Sphinn and Search Engine Watch Forums.
Comments:
SEO Ranter
04/09/2008 05:00 pm
Man, this guy is a moron. What on earth is he trying to accomplish? A successful lawsuit to acquire seo.com? I'm sure that in the rare case he actually gets the damn thing, people will notice enough to appeal and get things reversed. What a tit.
Greg
04/09/2008 05:28 pm
Funny part, he claims the phrase was coined in 2007. I wonder how he'd back that up considering how many published events used SEO extensively before that. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20070214 Word Mark SEO Goods and Services IC 035. US 100 101 102. G & S: Marketing services in the field of computers in the nature of providing marketing services for the benefit of others by compiling advertising campaigns, promotional services, and consulting for customers. FIRST USE: 20070214. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20070214 Standard Characters Claimed Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK Serial Number 77171330 Filing Date May 2, 2007 Current Filing Basis 1A Original Filing Basis NO FILING BASIS Published for Opposition March 25, 2008 Owner (APPLICANT) Jason Gambert INDIVIDUAL UNITED STATES 10001 Woodcreak Oaks Blvd. Suite 1627 Roseville CALIFORNIA 95747 Type of Mark SERVICE MARK Register PRINCIPAL Live/Dead Indicator LIVE
No Name
04/11/2008 03:48 pm
SEO Standards Signal the Maturing of Our Industry http://www.jasongambert.com