by Yoshie Yager (@yoshie_s_y)
I heard about the battle against trademarking “SEO” a while back. My initial reaction was, “Who in their right mind would ever do something like that?” I am a Search Engine Optimization professional and “SEO” is the acronym shared by our industry that both describes what we do as well as acts as a sort of job title. It is like saying, “I’m an accountant,” which describes what this person does and what this job entails.
Rhea Drysdale of Outspoken Media originally filed opposition along with other SEO professionals to Jason Gambert’s attempts at trademark registration of “SEO.” Eventually, those who joined Rhea on the opposition dropped, and she was the last one standing. After an agonizing time and the expenditure of significant legal fees, she won.
I am so appreciative that she pursued this and was victorious. One might say it was the right thing to do to fight against Gambert’s efforts to trademark “SEO,” but the actuality in terms of time and money would be prohibitive to most individuals. My hat is completely off to her.
On a more personal note, I just want to say “bravo” to Rhea. From one working woman to another, I always think of and feel the often unspoken solidarity of the professional female community. Regardless of whether she and I are in the same industry, I sincerely thank her for the battle she took on and the result she brought in.
If you would like to donate to Rhea to show the appreciation, here is the address via Pay Pal: rhea_drysdale [at] yahoo [dot] com
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You are right, trademarking the term SEO can have lot of legal repurcussions for the SEO and internet marketing industry, and Rhea did the right thing! My support and well wishes for her!