Funeral Homes And Hospital Names Used On Your Website.

Eric S

Eric S

Demoted Webmaster
Jul 12, 2005
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Tustin
www.everydayflowers.net
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CA
Well its been a long day and I'm trying to bring myself to do the right thing and make sure its legal.

A call was placed to me today requesting that I remove a business name from our website. Without saying what business it is lets just say it could be a funeral home or hospital.

What gives us the right to list a business such as a hospital or funeral home that we deliver to? If a funeral home or hospital calls your business and request that their names be removed from your website do you do it?

I'm confused because here I am beliving that its not cool for OG's to list our flower shops on their websites for the sole purpuse of getting inbetween the consumer and the flower shop. Now I know I'm not trying to get inbetween the hospital and the consumer to get a share of their services or am I?

What legal rights do funeral homes and hospitals have when they request removal of their names from your website? I know the best answer would be from a lawyer but so far I hear just remove the content.

But I'm torn between where does it stop or where did it start?

You know all I want to do is sell flowers but it just seems like its just to complicated. By the way just checking on the business in question to see how many deliveries I made there over the last three months. Oh yea its so worth it a whole 1 order delviered there. Whoopi Doooo....
 
Wow, Eric.

I would be feeling pretty embarrassed if it were me. Did they give you a reason? I really can't imagine a scenario that would cause this request, it seems so petty.

I guess I can understand your questioning whether or not you should honor the request. My first reaction is, "FINE!! SHEESH! You're off of it, OKAY????"

But then I think.. "I'm just giving consumers an easy way to shop on-line, not hurting you at all, you idiot! It's not as if the customer I get is going to call you directly even, let alone place an order on your website if you even have one, so what is the problem?"

How's that for an answer? I am reading in between the lines here and understand that a gift shop may be involved with this. I don't know the legal ramifications at all, but I will say that FSN has listings of all hospitals and funeral homes in the USA. Although, I think it may be an external site.

I'm going to ask around because it could effect all of us. I hope more people post their opinions on this.

GREAT THREAD
Linda
 
I've been working on my info pages lately and this scenario had occured to me as a possibility. The conclusion I came to was that the link to their site must be of some (limited) benefit SEO wise, and generally speaking it puts the businesses name in front of the customer, so what is there to complain about? I can't really see how they could have a problem unless you were to make a false claim like you are their exclusive florist.
 
I would leave it on, tell them to sod off. It's not like you are saying anything bad about them. Some people just have nothing better to do than spoil other people's day...
 
First - IANAL

There seem to be two primary points when it comes to using trademarked (recognized) business names on sites:

1) Is the use for a commercial purpose? (In your case, yes)

2) Is the landing page likely to create confusion? (IMO, no - but again, IANAL)

Lots and lots of other sites (florists as well as other service providers) use the FH/Hosp name in their content.

This is an old post from SearchEngine Watch, but it describes various lawsuits about meta tags and their outcomes.

Sarah Bird's post on lawsuits about trademarked terms in Meta Tags provides a lengthy discussion on the conflicting rulings. The comments to her post might also help.

Bottom line for me is that your pages do not pretend to 'be' the trademark holder, but the titles might create a bit of consumer confusion based on the way they're displayed in search results.
 
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The fact that they are using Yahoo! confirms for me that they are clueless corporate sods with no right to exist on the interwebz. /opinionated rant

I think you have a good arguement for fair use, but it comes down to whether or not you want the hassle. :)
 
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I see nothing wrong with the information. You say you deliver there. You don't say you are them or a better center than they are. You don't say that you are their exclusive florist. You simply say you deliver there. What's the problem specifically? Maybe you could call someone and have a discussion with the administrator?

This is a very interesting situation. One I would like to investigate further. I would imagine that if they push the issue, they will need to contact anyone and everyone requesting the same thing. Could be a huge task for them.
 
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If you are uncertain, simply ask yourself

1) Would you appreciate any other website listing your business (under the guise of providing a service to the public) as a means to generate business for themselves ?

2) Would you expect your name to removed from such a website upon your request?

Never mind the legalities, what would you consider right or wrong if you were the one being listed. Also does it really make a difference if there are companies out there that would simply ignore your wishes for their own benefit?

I often read on this board about the "deceptive practices" used by order gatherers. It appears that now the shoe is on the other foot to some degree.
 
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I'm not understanding the reason they wouldn't want your shop listed. It only gives them another way to get noticed.

I suppose that if the funeral home owns their own flower shop....then, they might try to keep other flower shops from advertising their funeral home. But, that still doesn't make sense
 
Doug Munro said:
If you are uncertain, simply ask yourself

1) Would you appreciate any other website listing your business (under the guise of providing a service to the public) as a means to generate business for themselves ?

2) Would you expect your name to removed from such a website upon your request?

Never mind the legalities, what would you consider right or wrong if you were the one being listed. Also does it really make a difference if there are companies out there that would simply ignore your wishes for their own benefit?

I often read on this board about the "deceptive practices" used by order gatherers. It appears that now the shoe is on the other foot to some degree.
Click to expand...

See that is exactly how I felt. It made me think about when I would call or email a website that listed our business and the way it made me felt when my wishes where not honored.

But we do deliver our products to the hospital and we provide a service for their patenients that stay there.
 
I don't see how this situation is in the same catagory as "deceptive practices". You are not deceiving anyone. You simply state that you deliver there.

Lets say for example, someone said that they are located across the street from "and name your business" how does that harm you?

What type of senario would be equal to this situation where another business names your business within the content of their site?

I don't think this is comparing apples to apples.
 
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I have a couple of venues that I deliver to (and it hasn't been a great relationship between us for a good many years) but when I google the venue my listing doesn't show for about 4 pages...... so I don't worry about it as of yet. Considering the "feelings" have changed since two shops have left this area (who gave great deals but lacked education) and they now "recommend us"........ I may consider offering a linkage with my site and theirs..... in a natter of time. I don't consider their names as places I deliver to as untoward... I consider it an "advertisement for them on my site"
 
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