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Trademark SEO? Come On!

April 9th, 2008 | 2,786 Views RSS Feed



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It seems the world we live in has recently been relocated to the 'Twilight Zone'. The reason being, that recently a man named Jason Gambert is trying to register 'SEO' as a trademark. The most shocking point in this bizarre event is that he has managed to get all the way to the publication stage of the registration process.

Recently, the Trademark Office sent a letter to Mr. Gambert stating that, “The mark of the application identified appears to be entitled to registration. The mark will, in accordance with Section 12(a) of the Trademark Act of 1946, as amended, be published in the Official Gazette on the date indicated above for the purpose of opposition by any person who believes he will be damaged by the registration of the mark. If no opposition is filed within the time specified by Section 13(a) of the Statute or by rules 2.101 or 2.102 of the Trademark Rules, the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks may issue a certificate of registration."

When Jason applied for the trademark, he described SEO as, “Search Engine Optimization, Hosting, Web designing, Software, Hosting, Domain Name, Software Development, All Computer Related Development and Marketing plus what is listed; Computer Software, Computer Hardware, “SEO” Letters to be trademarked in all Computer related areas.”

A trademark can only be obtained if an individual or a company is the first to either develop or use a product or a service. :

The Trademark Office rejects his application on 15th August 2007:

The Trademark Office rejects Jason Gambert's giving these reasons:

According to the TMO, there were already two other trademark applications that were filed before Jason's that could have barred his registration. These applications were for 'Titan SEO' and 'Reno SEO'.

The reviewing attorney presented sample SERPs listing “SEO” in connection with computers and search engine optimization. She stated that, “The applicant's proposed mark, SEO, is merely descriptive of its computer related services. The acronym SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization." See attached evidence. The applicant's proposed mark is for "search engine optimization" services, among other computer related services. See application….In addition to being merely descriptive, the proposed mark appears to be generic in connection with the identified services and, therefore, incapable of functioning as a source-identifier for applicant’s services.”

Gambert's amended application on September 19th 2007.

After the previous rejection from TMO, Jason Gambert revised his application and stated that, “I have now removed any and all acronym qualities for the term "SEO" for search engine optimization." He also writes in his application, “ SEO appearing in the mark means or signifies System Efficient Optimization in the relevant trade or industry or as applied to the goods/services listed in the application."

On September 22nd 2007, Gambert sent a pdf file of dictionary.com which defined the word “SEO” to the TMO. It stated that SEO is a noun and it meant, “the process of choosing targeted keywords and keyword phrases related to a Web site so the site will rank high when those terms are part of a Web search." and concludes by saying that, “ The proposed mark, SEO, is for a service not a process."

The process keeps repeating itself for a long time. TMO kept rejecting Jason's application, but Jason kept on revising it and submitting it again and again. For a full coverage of the tug of war between Jason and the TMO, visit.

Still, there is a solution for this problem. A opposition can be filed against Jason Gambert's claims and most of the formalities can be fulfilled online. All that is needed, is a plain and simple statement explaining the reasons towards the opposition for the claim. In the end a $300 filing fee is required to file a Notice of Opposition.

Let us hope that some big guns of the SEO business notice this looming doom on our heads, and initiate some sort of an opposition. If not, then it's time for us to look for new words and phrases and to stay in the business.

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Comments

10 Responses to “Trademark SEO? Come On!”

  1. SEO Ranter Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 9:57 am

    What a moron this guy is – he really doesn't know how to take a hint. Sounds like has has bad intentions for the acronym too, unlike those guys who trademarked "NSFW". If only I was a US citizen – $300 is nothing!

  2. amelia Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 7:56 pm

    i feel sad for jason, hope someday his application will be accepted

  3. The Big Man Says:
    April 10th, 2008 at 12:45 am

    It's an interesting article Navneet, but while we all recognise the ludicracy of his attempt to register the trademark, we have to remember that he's dealing with pencil-pushers here, that have probably no idea what SEO is. Whilst I can't see it being passed, I know of a company in the UK that managed to trademark the word "Passions" as it is their brand name and they have forced several lingerie businesses to change the names of their websites.

  4. Dana Lookadoo Says:
    April 10th, 2008 at 10:35 am

    Here is this guy's response to the "Search Engine Marketing" community:
    http://www.jasongambert.com/

    He says that he has "passed the arbitrary requirements for the trademark of the term “SEO,” and am now in the Notice of Publication stage."

  5. Seo Facelift Says:
    April 10th, 2008 at 8:46 pm

    Wow! I read that, FINALLY someone who has heard the working community!

  6. Navneet Kaushal Says:
    April 10th, 2008 at 8:53 pm

    That is an interesting and funny response from Jason.
    I really don't see a reason for someone like nobody (read Jason Gambert) deciding to take the torch in his hand!

  7. THE TORCH! Says:
    April 10th, 2008 at 9:12 pm

    I think he already has! ; )

  8. Rhea Drysdale Says:
    April 24th, 2008 at 4:48 pm

    At least three notices of opposition have been filed by SEOmoz, ArteWorks and myself. http://www.rheadrysdale.com/blog/seo-trademark-notice-of-opposition/

  9. suwarn rajan Says:
    September 14th, 2008 at 4:21 am

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  10. trademark dude Says:
    September 19th, 2008 at 3:27 pm

    Thankfully the guy has basically no legal standing to trademark the term "SEO". Even if he did end up getting it through the trademark process by some miracle the outrage in the webmaster community would be unstoppable. His website would be subject to so much hate mail and hacking attempts it would never actually do anything. Such is the nature of justice on the internet…

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