Website meta content question

[mj2000uk]

I wonder if anyone can help me.

My company has recently received a "friendly" warning from a competitor.

We work in the security industry and we have a website where we sell "Brand X".

"Brand X" has a product that does the same job called "Brand Y" which we dont have access to but I decided to include "Brand Y" in our website meta content so that people may stumble upon us and our "Brand X" alternative while they are searching.

We have now had a warning from "Brand Y" that this is disloyal competition and we are in breach of law by doing this. "Brand Y" is not a registered trademark.

I wonder whether their threat to take legal action if we do not remove their product name is enforcable? The company is based in Spain also so I dont know if thatmakes a difference? They do have a UK office but this action came from their very top brass in spain.

Any suggestions?

[Twenty20]

I'm not 100% sure about the legal aspect but I know its unethical to have your competitors names in the meta tags.

I do seem to recall a case though where a company was forced to remove them.

I do look at our competitors sites occasionally for their meta tags and would certainly ask them to remove our company name if we found it there.

Really, your own product or company should be good enough to stand on its own without resorting to using a competitors name to draw in customers.

[Gmcd01]

The term 'disloyal' competition is a slight mis-translation into English; consider it to mean 'unfair' competition (UC).
There are many different strands to what constitutes UC, and the different EU states have a varying degree of protection against it (Germany are especially protectionist).
To be quite curt, you're in the legal wrong here. What you're doing is quite possibly 'reverse passing off' (you hold out Brand Y as yours or in some way affiliated with Brand X when its' not); even if not, it is still probably UC. By attempting to use another's goods and reputation to enhance your own sales is a clear case of UC. (In the USA, even using mirrors in your store to hide your neighbour's shop can be UC!)
Best thing to do: send a polite email apologising and feigning ignorance of the law, then remove the content ASAP.

[mj2000uk]

Very good answers, thank you, lots of food for thought.

I personally did not do this to cause friction, in fact the reason I did it was because I want web users to see other products available. There is no war between our companies and I just think they are trying to flex their muscles a little.

As an idea, I can buy this product I just choose to sell another version of it. Could it be the case that if I include this product on my site seen as though I can resell it, would I then be in a position to have it in my meta content?