Legal Question in Technology Law in Texas

I am a midwife who owns a birthing center which is a PLLC. My legal name uses the name of my city plus the words "birth center" - i.e. "My Town Birth Center" Another midwife in the area who does not own a birth center has ads on Google where she uses my name in the ad next to her name. So when someone searches for a birth center in my area, "My Town Birth Center" then her ad in Google comes up making it look like she is a birth center. Is this illegal? I've confronted her but she says she just hired someone else to do the ad and she "doesn't know why it does that".


Asked on 11/18/12, 8:18 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Mark Dunn Mark D. Dunn

If she is deliberately causing confusion as to whether you and she are in business together - if she is deliberately giving customers the impression that the two of you are the same business - that is a violation of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

But your first remedy should be to contact Google about this. My guess is that they frown on what she's doing.

On the other hand, if I put "Dallas county divorce lawyer" in my Google keywords and there happens to be a business named "Dallas County Divorce Lawyers" it wouldn't be a violation.

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Answered on 11/18/12, 2:19 pm


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