Discussion:
What is the name of your state? Florida.
I run a classified/auction website. I was recently contacted by the general counsel of Rolex Watch USA Inc that an advertiser was selling counterfeit watches on the site. Under safe harbour provisions of the DMCA I deleted the ad's immediatley.
The counsel also demanded that I remove all html and meta tags, etc...that mentioned the name, the question is;
Do trademark holders have a legal basis for demanding that meta tags and html be removed? (For instance, If I have a catagory for Coca Cola on my auction site, could Coca Cola demand the removal of this catagory?)
(I actually did remove the entire catagory for watches as it was a small part of the site.)
Kind regards in advance.
Answer:
They can demand what they want, but that doesn't mean you have to do it, but if they take you to court you would need to weigh the costs of battling it vs. the cost of not...
If I put on my website the "Top 10 Reasons" I dislike Coca Cola and they came and said "Hey take that off" I would tell them to pound sand.
Answer:
If your site resells authentic rolex watches or has articles or message boards about them, then you have a fair-use right to use the Rolex name so long as you are not passing yourself off as the Rolex company.
Copyrighted images are a different matter.
Answer:
What is the name of your state? Florida.
I run a classified/auction website. I was recently contacted by the general counsel of Rolex Watch USA Inc that an advertiser was selling counterfeit watches on the site. Under safe harbour provisions of the DMCA I deleted the ad's immediatley.
The counsel also demanded that I remove all html and meta tags, etc...that mentioned the name, the question is;
Do trademark holders have a legal basis for demanding that meta tags and html be removed? (For instance, If I have a catagory for Coca Cola on my auction site, could Coca Cola demand the removal of this catagory?)
(I actually did remove the entire catagory for watches as it was a small part of the site.)
Kind regards in advance. This is a tricky subject. While Some Random Guy is generally correct with respect to the fair use of trademarks, there is some caselaw that suggests that any use of metatags or hidden text or any other devices that use trademarks to get the attention of search engines and the like are infringing unless done with permission of the trademark holder.
Answer:
Any legal fight is going to cost far more than it is worth but....
You should be in the legal right to use the word Rolex on your site if you sell or discuss authentic Rolex watches.
The most prominent lawsuits involve Playboy. Those who were attempting to mislead users into coming to their site using the Playboy name lost their cases, while those who had a legitimate reason to use the name (a playmate with her own personal site) won their suit.

Answer:
Any legal fight is going to cost far more than it is worth but....
You should be in the legal right to use the word Rolex on your site if you sell or discuss authentic Rolex watches.
The most prominent lawsuits involve Playboy. Those who were attempting to mislead users into coming to their site using the Playboy name lost their cases, while those who had a legitimate reason to use the name (a playmate with her own personal site) won their suit.
I agree completely, both in that if you are not using the term in a "misleading" fashion that you should be okay, and that it would cost a lot more than in would be worth to prove it...