Do Delta FORCE HAVE ANY SCRUPLES OR MORALS

[busaman]

Dear Members.

I chased up a potential booking today and was totally gobsmacked by what I found out. On speaking to the gentleman he informed me that we had already provided him with rental prices. I explained that he had not spoken to either my mrs or I about prices and this is what he said.

" I googled Warren Wood Paintball and clicked on the first name on top of the list, took the telephone number, rang it, spoke to a lady who was a little vague but got the prices for the days paintballing"

I then did what he did. Went onto google, entered Warren Wood Paintball, clicked on the first Warren Wood Paintball which was highlighted in a buff coloured area and was amazed to see that I was taken to Delta Forces home page which has pics of Lewis Hamilton. Jenson Button, Frank Lampard to mention just 3 celeb names.

I have made a few enquiries and it would appear that the law and the internet are miles apart and at the moment what Delta Force are doing IS LEGAL!!!!

Further phones calls has resulted in me finding out that the only way in which to get Delta Force to stop doing this is to have my company name trade marked at a fair old cost. Spoke to Google operative who totally agreed with me that morally what was happening is outrageous BUT Google are happy coz they are being paid for the advert.

SO if any site owner reads this who has NOT trade marked your company plse check out Google and ensure that Delta Force are not stealing your customers. I do not know how many potential customers I have lost to Delta Force but trust me when I say I will get this advert removed asap.


A really pee'd off site owner.


Old Bloke,
Warren Wood Paintball.

 

[Liam92]

i think it's really hard to be critical of google ads because as anybody who knows me will also know that i dislike the whole 'rape their wallet and throw them out' policy that delta force seem to employ somewhat regularly.

in most cases i would say that it is just hard lines that big companies pay big prices to have their websites come up at the top of a google search if it is in any way related. it also usually helps because they are highlighted unlike normal search results to show they are ads.

HOWEVER, after googling your site exactly as described i find it a bit out of line that the delta force website has your company name as the header for their site. had this said 'delta force' then my usual view would apply but i would also agree that it is out of order that your company name is linked to their website in that way.

 

[chuckwood]

It is based on the Keywords as part of the ads that Delta Force pay for to be mentioned when such words come up, sorry to hear this Old Bloke, get the basterds! Sic K-Dog on them!

 

[Gadget]

That does seem out of order to me, the Google hit certainly gives the impression that Warren Wood is a Delta Force site (btw, when I first tried searching I got the actual WW site as the first hit, running Adblock on Firefox hid the paid-for advert box at the top of the results).

I'd check again into the legality of it - I know that when my wife set up her business she had to do a lot of research to avoid the name of her business being similar to another in the same field, as it could be classed as 'passing off'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passing_off

Instead, the law of passing off is designed to prevent misrepresentation in the course of trade to the public, for example, that there is some sort of association between the business of defendant and that of the claimant. Another example of passing off is where the defendant does something so that the public is misled into thinking the activity is associated with the claimant, and as a result the claimant suffers some damage, under the law of passing off it may be possible for the claimant to initiate action against the defendant.

Applies to both registered and unregistered trademarks in the UK. I think this applies here. Consult a solicitor and get them to send a letter to Delta Force.

 

[renie]

Cheeky B*stards Warren wood is one of my favorite sites, Delta Force Have no morals what so ever.

 

[Mike_Evans@Warped]

Sadly this isn't an isolated incident even within the paintball industry. Googling 'Warped Paintball' has often seen adverts for an online sales site that is not our own. We looked into solving this, contacting the company involved and google. The company involved ,although they said they would, have done nothing to solve the problem and unless we paid to TM the company name google wouldn't do a thing.

 

[Gadget]

Although Google won't do anything unless you're trademarked, it still breaches the passing off law. It's very cheap to make a small claim in the courts - work out how much money you lost from that customer, submit the small claims paperwork and wait to see how quickly DF get in touch to settle.

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/making-a-complaint/taking-a-dispute-to-the-small-claims-court/using-the-small-claims-court/

 

[MeDiC]

Although Google won't do anything unless you're trademarked, it still breaches the passing off law. It's very cheap to make a small claim in the courts - work out how much money you lost from that customer, submit the small claims paperwork and wait to see how quickly DF get in touch to settle.

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/making-a-complaint/taking-a-dispute-to-the-small-claims-court/using-the-small-claims-court/

A very good point...

It seems that bluec 77 paintball (the company behind DF) has had run ins with the Advertising standards authority before over marketing contact details and text messages.

 

[Dusty]

I know of 2 prolific sites in Ireland who had the same problem in that one owner registered a variant of the other's site name which redirected to his own website. eg Site A and Site B

Sitea.com is the original and the variant was siteAIreland.com or something similar which actually led straight to site B's homepage.

 

[Missy-Q]

If you don't trademark the name of your company, it's going to happen. Part of setting up a business is thinking of the name and trademarking it to protect your idea. It isn't your intellectual property unless you do this. It's a business expense and by not doing it you're damaging yourself and helping DF.

Tough love, but WW can only blame themselves for being ignorant of the basic marketing strategies for branding their business.
Depending on the time you've been in business you could still have a chance though. I suggest you get a lawyer to send them a generic 'cease and desist' letter (they use stock ones, so don't let them charge you an arm or a leg). Once they get that letter they will have an allotted time-period to stop using your name, or it goes to court. Typically they will comply, and remove the key-word from the ad, rather than face the hassle of litigation. Of course your case is weakened considerably by the fact you have not trademarked the name of your business.