Use of Google's brand name

[happygil]

A friend who owns a large hunting and fishing gear store sat down with a large grin on his face, dropped the phone on the table, looked at me as if he struck gold and said "We signed with Google".

To cut a long story short, few questions later and I found out that he paid a ridiculously large amount of money for GBP optimization to a company that incorpoates Google brand name with their business name in a very conniving way. Their business name is something like "GetGoogle".

They use a logo very similar to Google's (G). And whats more confusing, they have a verified GBP listing with google brand name, colors, elements etc.

They are basically using the power of Google's brand and presenting themselves as Google's "Authorised/Licensed" partner and charge large amount of money.

Is this allowed by Google? Whats really confusing to me is how they managed to get their GBP verified?

Hope someone can shed some light on this and whats the right way to deal with this? Leave it alone, report?

I just feel bad for my friend who got conned with this stupid amount ( thousands of dollars)

 

[WilliamGMBE]

Generally speaking(and not just specific here), this is where DMCA takedown comes in.

Here the copyright(Google) can request to remove the infringing domain from other platform and from Google Search too. They do it the same from Google search too. Even though DMCA is a US law, most companies even outside US follow it. It has a lot of teeth.

If you go to Google Transparency Report and search for Google on the explore field field at the bottom, you can see the similar domains Google has similarly removed from their platform. I have given a screenshot of it below. The third column shows the other infringing domains google has taken action against.

I dont know I answered your specific question though. What I just meant is that this is how such infringement are handled.

Hope this helps.

 

[WilliamGMBE]

Please note: I dont mean to say above that the business you are referring to broke any laws. My answer above in just general info about how these kind of issues are handled. Just wanted to be clear.

 

[happygil]

Please note: I dont mean to say above that the business you are referring to broke any laws. My answer above in just general info about how these kind of issues are handled. Just wanted to be clear.

Thank you for the information Will. But, yes I'm still confused and not sure if this company is allowed to do that? Is it legal or no? Can we report it. Will Google find out about it if its happening outside the US. And how did they approve a GBP listing that mimics Google brand and uses its name..

For me I believe its unethical and misleading.

 

[WilliamGMBE]

Thank you for the information Will. But, yes I'm still confused and not sure if this company is allowed to do that? Is it legal or no? Can we report it. Will Google find out about it if its happening outside the US. And how did they approve a GBP listing that mimics Google brand and uses its name..

For me I believe its unethical and misleading.

Thank you for your question.

As I provided in the link above, Google has previously taken action against infringing copyright, like against domain name with Google in it. If you go to the link above, you can see the cases they have taken action against. It is very information.

At the end of the day, it is the copyright owner who decides how to take actions. You can contact them about it. Also, I am not sure what are the branding requirements for bring a Google Partner. You can check their documentation about it, I am guessing Google has branding requirement for it.

Since this question is more of a legal one, I am not sure I can answer specifically about it. You can though search online about it.