FranklinCovey sued for bidding on Franklin.com on Google Adwords: Not a win-win

Seven Habits firm faces lawsuit over Adwords bidding.

Perhaps the eighth habit of highly effective people ought to be “not bidding on competitors domain names in Adwords”.

Franklin Electronic Publishers has filed a federal lawsuit against FranklinCovey since the Seven Habits-based time management firm is bidding on the term “Franklin.com” on Google Adwords.

Franklin.com is owned by the plaintiff, which sells products somewhat related to what Franklin Covey sells. FranklinCovey and its products licensee use the domain name is FranklinCovey.com.

Franklin Electronic Publishers is also miffed that FranklinCovey is bidding on the term “Franklin”. (View the lawsuit here.)

Here’s what you see if you search on Google for “franklin.com”:

I can certainly see where the plaintiff is coming from with the bidding on Franklin.com, since FranklinCovey is bidding on a domain name it doesn’t own. Franklin might be more of a stretch.

It reminds me a little bit of when a firm wins a UDRP for a typo of a domain that’s similar to their brand, but the complainant doesn’t actually own the domain it’s a typo of.