Trademark Infringement 101 - How to determine who is bidding on trademarks

Important: When reporting infringement to networks, search engines, hosting services, etc., be sure to provide as much evidence as possible.  Screen shots of the ad, as you saw it displayed on the search engines, of Landing Pages, of Clickstream Investigation results, etc.

When it comes to protecting and defending your trademarks, a fundamental part is identifying just who is bidding on them.  The purpose of this course is to teach you the steps necessary to make this determination.  Each of the “Big Three” Paid Search Engines are similar enough that most of these processes work across all of them.  However, there is a key difference between Google, MSN and Yahoo. Read more

Non-Compliant Actors in Affiliate and Internet Marketing as a Complex Adaptive System

“It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.”
- Sun Tzu, The Art of War

“My father taught me many things here — he taught me in this room. He taught me — keep your friends close but your enemies closer.”
- Michael Corleone, The Godfather Part II

Abstract:
Non-compliance in Affiliate and Internet Marketing poses threats to legitimate affiliates and marketing partners, to the advertisers, to the online ad networks, and to the Internet at large. There is a vast range of non-compliant promotional methods, however the root reasons for the activity(ies) are relatively simple - greed, coupled with a varying degree of disrespect-for-authority/rules. Research and investigation has shown that monitoring and enforcement has had a perturbation effect on non-compliant marketers, responsible, in some ways, for their adaptive behavior. It should be duly noted that competition with both compliant and other non-compliant marketers, as well as changes in the “Internet environment” are also prime-motivators for the emergence and necessity of evolutionary non-compliant behavior. This paper investigates non-compliant Affiliate and Internet Marketers (black hats) as a Complex Adaptive System (CAS). In it, I hope to describe how CAS behaviors can be applied to black hats, define a mechanism for their behavior (Zorro Syndrome), and offers suggestions for non-compliance detection and enforcement, consistent with CAS. Read more