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

  A Real Page-Turner

  WHAT’S THE BUZZ IN ALTERNATIVE media? Look in your mailbox. Much of the recent growth seems to be coming from catalogers looking to make money from both

• Agencies

  Greenie Points

  Several years ago, McDonald’s started serving Big Macs in paper containers instead of Styrofoam holders. The reason? Environmental groups took issue with