Quote:
Originally Posted by AaronM
Yes, that's why millions of dollars are spent trademarking brands and not keywords. 
/sarcasm |
People would spend just as much or more trademarking keywords if they weren't purely descriptive. I'd love to have a trademark on 'Mortgage' if they would allow it.
Far-L,
The more likely outcome is that Google is overstepping its bounds and will eventually earn itself significant backlash. People who think Google 'owns' search ought to think back to a time when Microsoft 'owned' computing or Kodak 'owned' picture taking. When giant companies mistakenly believe they can dictate to the market rather than serve it, it NEVER ends well for the company trying to pull all the strings.
Google hasn't just devalued type-in domain names, they also: devalued adult keywords in general, devalued content itself via youtube, are starting to pick at the carriers by rolling out their own ISP, took on Apple and all handset makers with Android, want to crush all browsers with Chrome.... and the list goes on. Like many companies before them, they are becoming a victim of their own success and that usually doesn't last as long as people expect it would.
Oversight of internet infrastructure is being shifted away from US control and there are a whole lot of serious players about ready to work together to take Google down a few pegs. I don't think type-in domains have hit bottom yet... but anyone who thinks they are unlikely to recover is basing that mostly on the ability of one company to dictate how the whole internet works... and I don't like the odds of that bet.
