Chief Marketer Staff

• Mixed Legal Signals on Trademarks in Search

  Search marketers who want to bid on competitors

• Swann Online Store to Start Charging Sales Tax

  The e-commerce company operated by Lynn Swann, former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver and front-runner for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Pennsylvania, has said it will begin collecting and remitting state sales tax for its online sales.

• Hasbro Bows First Consumer Catalog

  Toy manufacturer Hasbro has issued the first direct-to-consumer catalog in the company’s 83-year history.

• Calif. Man Indicted for Click Fraud

  A San Francisco-area man has been charged with using software to automate survey completions on a rewards-based Web site and score free merchandise from Amazon.com and other Internet retailers.

• Reader’s Digest to Buy Allrecipes.com

  The Reader

• Short Cuts

  Global marketing firm Carlson Marketing has opened it first office in mainland China in Shanghai. The marketing services arm of Carlson joins Carlson Hotels Asia-pacific, Carlson Restaurants, Carlson Wagonlit Travel and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, already operating in China.

• Agencies

  Loose Cannon: Googling For Dollars

  Never mind following the money: For those tracking the activities of search firm Google, the lucre hard to miss it. The Mountain View, CA-based company anticipates raising $2.1 billion through an upcoming stock sale

• Letters to the Editor

  Grant A. Johnson

• Agencies

  Customers Have a Right to Expect More

  IF THE EXPERIENCE MOST OF US have had is any indication, there’s something terribly wrong with most customer service in this country. If you live and

• Revenues Rising Again

  U.S. promotion agency revenues reached an estimated $5.2 billion in 2005, up 23.5% from the year before. That’s nearly double the increase that agencies