ARE YOUR SEO STRATEGIES PUTTING YOUR COMPANY AT LEGAL RISK?

Visibility is everything in today’s digital world, companies both big and small are pulling out every SEO trick in the book to stand out in crowded search engine results.

- KHUSHBU JAIN

While you are busy chasing that elusive top spot on the search engines, could you be walking right into a legal ambush? That small detail tucked away in your website's SEO, like a quiet meta tag, might be more than just technical wizardry. It could be a hidden ticket to costly trademark trouble.

What are these Meta tags? They are signals embedded in your site's code, hidden from visitors but crucial for how search engines rank and display your pages. The temptation for marketers is to include well known competitor names as meta tags to benefit from their brand recognition and search traffic. However, the belief that what is invisible does not matter is a myth. If a user searching for “RayBan Glasses” lands on your site due to such practices, even if only temporarily misled, the law already treats this as actionable “initial interest confusion.” Diverting consumer attention, even for a short time, can result in legal liability.

THE LEGAL POSITION: SECTION 29, TRADE MARKS ACT, 1999