DOT.COMpliance
Eric Goldman
General Counsel, Epinions, Inc.
DOT.COMpliance
- The War for Attention
- Traffic Acquisition and Associated Regulations
- The Role of Counsel
The War for Attention
- Old Days: Buy Traffic
- Modern Era: Buy Profitable Traffic
- Keys to Profitability
- Find free traffic
- If not, buy targeted traffic
- Make the most of acquired traffic
- Keywords as Qualification Tool
Free Search Engine Traffic
- Old Days: Keyword Stuffing (e.g., metatags)
- Legal Regulation
- trademark infringement
- initial interest confusion
- trademark dilution
- But, fair use
- Modern Era: Google
- Search Engine Bypass: Spam
Paid Search Engine Traffic
- What Search Engines Sell
- Banner ads
- Text links – ads
- Text links – editorial (“paid inclusion”)
- Legal Regulation
- How does keyword-based sales differ from keyword stuffing?
- But, Playboy v. Netscape
- Paid inclusion coming under fire
- Modern Era: Marketing $ Chase Sources with Best Qualification and Conversion
Other Paid Traffic Sources
- Banners, Buttons, Sponsorships, Emails
- Icon Placement
- Affiliate Programs
- Affiliates compete with sponsor for traffic
- Typosquatting/Cybersquatting
- Just a different form of keyword targeting
- But, Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act; Uniform Dispute Resolution Procedure; Unfair Practices (along with mousetrapping)
- Does anyone guess domain names any more?
- Microsoft and Yahoo seizing 404 traffic
The Role of Counsel
- Marketing managers’ job – more traffic, faster and cheaper
- The “everyone is doing it” syndrome
- Website as liability-inducing marketing material
- Domain names
- Search engine-oriented text (metatags, teasers)
- Website text
- Plus, search feeds
- How does the lawyer inculcate common sense and respect?