An Unlikely Attempt to Trademark SEO - Where We Currently Stand
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This brings us back to Sarah Bird's discovery, and the start of my article. Throughout the trademark application process, Gambert has been telling the Trademark Office that he has been trying to register SEO as a service mark for a service that is NOT SEO, since SEO is a process. That is not, however, what he has been telling the SEO community.
Yes, as it turns out, Gambert has a blog. It has exactly one entry, titled “The Official Response to the Search Engine Marketing Community.” So what does he have to say for himself? How does he explain what he's doing? “I am helping the search engine marketing community establish an approved SEO process, which can be sold as an 'SEO service.' A good example of a proven process that is delivered as a service is that any CPA working for a public organization must understand the GAAP process to properly provide accounting services. They can still provide accounting practices to anyone they choose, but cannot claim them as GAAP, unless they follow the GAAP guidelines.”
He goes on to explain how the industry is full of con artists because there are no approved SEO standards and no governing body to enforce them. He calls on help from the various SEO communities for the formation of guidelines, and hopes to also form a board of directors. “My goal in owning the trademark for the word SEO is not to try to force people to change their SEO process, but rather, prevent companies from selling 'SEO' as a service under false pretenses.”
This doesn't sound like what he was trying to tell the Trademark Office at all. If Gambert has the best of intentions, as he seems to be claiming, why is he telling the Trademark Office one thing and the SEO community something completely different? As if that's not bad enough, Texas-based SEO Matt Foster seems to have some evidence that Jason Gambert has perjured himself at least twice in his 41-page response to Bird's Notice of Opposition. Gambert claimed to have received an email about search engine optimization on July 27, 1997, at Tosone875.com. He claims that he registered that domain with GoDaddy.
That's impossible. GoDaddy did not exist under that name back in 1997 – and even if it did, it was certainly not a registrar. Back then I was covering Internet-related news, and ICANN was part of my beat. I can't tell you the names of the first five independent registrars off the top of my head, but I can tell you that in 1997 there was only one registrar: Network Solutions. So Gambert lied when he said his site was registered with GoDaddy if it was registered in 1997.
The second lie, of course, is about registering the domain in 1997. Gambert did register the domain with GoDaddy – but if you believe the WHOIS service, the domain was created on April 14 of this year. At this point, it really doesn't look like Gambert has a leg to stand on.
Next: So: Do We Need SEO Standards? >>
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