Those of you who own a registered trademark, brand, or business name know how important it is to protect it, assuring that a third party doesn’t use it without permission, then twist your hard work into something unintended. Thankfully, social sites like Facebook and Twitter understand the inherent risks, and uphold the law, doing a fine job of quickly pulling down unauthorized use of trademarks and copyright protected materials (upon confirmation of legal ownership).
Blogger, on the other hand, chooses to protect the scammers.
That’s right. I said scammers. And in case there’s any doubt, I’m seriously ticked off (more accurately, I’m seriously p***ed off, but my Mom reads this, so gotta keep it clean).
A couple of individuals using only initials for identification have locked down The 3/50 Project moniker on Blogspot, in addition to a second “good guess” option. Blogger (read: Google, who owns Blogspot/Blogger) doesn’t require users to include contact info on their pages. Nor do they contact cretins bloggers who illegally use someone else’s registered trademark as their blog name.
Translated? Google protects the illegal activity while preventing legal trademark holders from correcting the problem.
Why is trademark protection so important? All it takes is one person (good intentions or not) to create a web page, flyer, t-shirt, poster, or other item that appears to be official to the casual observer, then say something that runs contrary to the real organization. Or to produce items using your name or content, rather than drive purchase of those items toward you. Or to use your business name to sell something without your knowledge, permission, or sharing of revenue.
For big corporations, that translates into big dollars. For those of us running small operations (think: a certain grass roots movement still being funded out of the founder’s pocket), trademarks represent our most valuable asset and the sliver of financial support we have that helps cover a tiny piece of our overhead.
Imagine someone else using your business name, presenting it as their own, without permission. Or imagine them your designs to produce competing product rather than pay you for the legitimate goods you offer for sale.
Yeah. That’s right. The “no way in hell” feeling you just got in the pit of your stomach is exactly what I’m talking about.
Google, get it together and figure this thing out. This is beyond inexcusable.
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