RE: Search400 blackmail?

Brad I'm not talking about ordinary banner linked keywords. The threat
is that they'll sell OUR company name and OUR product names to a
competitor as a banner. If one of our names gets keyed in a search then
competitor's ad gets displayed...unless of course we pay them money to
reserve our own trademarks as protected keywords. There are a number of
lawsuits pending in this area so this is a contentious issue but what
frosts me is that we're already a customer and we already pay for
generic application keywords. 

TrailBlazer Systems, Inc.
http://www.as400ftp.com
AS/400 Communications & E-Commerce Solutions

Chaos, panic, & disorder - my work here is done.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stone, Brad V (TC) [SMTP:bvstone@taylorcorp.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 1999 12:41 PM
> To:   'MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com'
> Subject:      RE: Search400 blackmail?
> 
> Blackmail?  No... it sounds like what everyone else is doing.  Even
> Deja.com.  If you are searching comp.sys.ibm.as400.misc, you get
> AS/400
> banner ads on the page.
> 
> Unless they have already sold you a contract to have your banner ads
> on
> specific pages, then I'd say it's a new opportunity.  
> 
> One could argue, of course, that each new screen that displays search
> results is a unique page, therefore they are not obligated to use your
> banner on these pages if only specific pages were mentioned in the
> contract.
> 
> Personally, I think banner ads are a waste of time.  Second,
> Search400's
> engine blows.  Search for one word, like IPDS, and you get hundreds of
> hits,
> when only the first couple may relate, and the rest just happen to
> have
> "AS/400" in them.
> 
> Save your money.  Advertise where you see the most revenue coming in
> from.
> I would rather buy this type of banner add on Deja.com or the new
> newsgroup
> search engine (the name slips my mind).  No one can match the info
> provided
> at Deja or the Midrange-L archives.
> 
> Bradley V. Stone
> BVS/Tools - www.bvstools.com
> Netshare400 - www.netshare400.com
> 
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Tim McCarthy [mailto:TimM@softwarejungle.com]
> > Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 1999 2:11 PM
> > To: 'MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com'
> > Subject: Search400 blackmail?
> > 
> > 
> > I'd be interested in any other software vendors opinion of this item
> > received from Search400. Bear in mind that our company is a
> search400
> > customer - we place banner ads with them. Does this not sound like a
> > form of blackmail?
> > 
> > >Search400.com has had vendors approach us about buying 
> > search keywords
> > >that are their competitors' company name or product name.  Here's a
> > >fictional example --  Microsoft might buy the keywords "IBM" and
> > >"AS/400" so that all user searches on these terms will result in a
> > >Microsoft banner above Web results relevant to IBM and AS/400. 
> > 
> > >This is not an uncommon occurrance on other search engines.  For
> > >example, Yahoo regularly sells keyword banners associated 
> > with company
> > >names to either the company or their competitors.
> > 
> > >Before we begin to accept these orders, we want to offer you the
> > >opportunity to lock up the keywords for the name of your company
> and
> > >products.  We've developed a special vendor keyword package where
> you
> > >can buy your company name and three of your company's 
> > product names for
> > >only $250 per month. This special is effective until December 31st.
> 
> > 
> > >If you're interested in taking advantage of this special offer
> please
> > >call me or reply to this email.  We will not accept any insertion
> > >orders for competitive "keyword" names until January.
> >   
> > 
> > TrailBlazer Systems, Inc.
> > http://www.as400ftp.com
> > AS/400 Communications & E-Commerce Solutions
> > 
> > Chaos, panic, & disorder - my work here is done.
> > 
> > 
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