Objectives of knowledge management

Chapter 4
E‑environment
B Using competitor names and trademarks in meta- tags (for search engine 
optimisation)
Meta- tags are used to market websites by enabling them to appear more prominently in 
search engines as part of search engine optimisation (SEO) (see Chapter 9). Some companies 
have tried putting a competitor company name within the meta- tags. Case law has found 
against companies that have used this approach. Privacy law for email marketing was consid-
ered in the previous section.
C Using competitor names and trademarks in pay- per- click advertising
A similar approach can potentially be used in 
 pay- per- click search marketing
(see 
Chapter 9) to advertise on competitors’ names and trademarks. For example, if a search user 
types ‘Dell laptop’, can an advertiser bid to place an ad offering an ‘HP laptop’? There is less 
case law in this area and differing findings have occurred in the US and France.