Is the manufacturer's brand owner of my search engine traffic?

[Nacho]

We got a call this morning from the holding company of this brand (http://www.mexgrocer.com/brand-lucas.html). They want us to remove all pages with the Lucas products because they have been discontinued in the U.S. The thing is, we get great traffic from them and we have worked hard to gain our top positions (in Google for example: lucas limon (http://www.google.com/search?q=lucas+limon), lucas bomvaso (http://www.google.com/search?q=lucas+bomvaso), lucas acidito (http://www.google.com/search?q=lucas+acidito) or even the brand Lucas Candy (http://www.google.com/search?q=lucas+candy)). They claim that it is not right to be displaying the product if it's out of stock and not available for sale. Which is true, but they are great entry points to our store.

So what should we do? There has been no legal action from their end at this point. Can they control what we display or now on are website? Is the manufacturer's brand owner of my search engine traffic?

[PhilC]

I'd be just like you and not want to throw top rankings and traffic away unless it were necessary. I don't know anything about the legalities, but couldn't you add a few bold, red words to the top of each page, stating that the product is no longer available and linking to an alternative page? I got an impression that something along those lines may be ok - from a thread about trademarks.

If the pages are done with css, the code could be placed at the bottom, or, with css, you could use code placed at the bottom to overlay part of the top of the page.

[Nacho]

And the thing is that it we sold a ton of these candies until they were just not available any more.

I know they are the owners of the trademark, but they are not the owners of my traffic . . . or are they?

[PhilC]

I've no idea, and I know it's not very helpful.

If someone were actually advertising my product, I think I may have some sort of legal say in the matter. But, from I've understaood from the thread below this one, I get the impression that you would be able to use my name to mention my product - it's no longer available in the U.S. but here's one that is -> click. I know that here in the UK, some advertisers (banks, for instance) state their competitors names to show how much better this bank's services are.

Could you change the pages so that they are not selling, without changing them so much that they will lose rankings? A "Discontinued line" label, for instance.

It's just a thought. It needs the legal people to arrive.