Trademark Violations and Paid Search

A competitor is using your company name in their paid search ads to steal your customers. How can this be stopped? Can this be stopped?

First, let me start off by saying all engines try to stay out of copyright issues as much as possible. The last thing they want is to get involved in a dispute between two of their advertisers and be involved in a law suit.

Also, keep in mind, you will have to be your own advocate. Type your trademarked names in each search engine. Also type in your url, www.yourcompanyname.com. Look at the sponsored links to see who is using your name. Some of you may have nothing to worry about, others will be amazed when you see the number of companies using your name to steal your customers.

How to protect yourself:

Google:

Google will allow other companies to bid on your name, but not use your name in the adtext of their ads. Google will not take the initiative in this. You will have to fill out appropriate Trademark forms (link below). Without this paperwork, they will not proceed with ad removals. Make sure you add variations of your trademarked name and add accounts that are allowed to use your name.

http://www.google.com/tm_complaint_adwords.html

Yahoo:

With Yahoo, others are allowed to bid and use your name in adtext as long as the link goes to a site that sells your products. If you have an affiliate program and you do not want affiliates to bid on your name or use it in their adtext, it is very important that in your affiliate agreement you have, in writing, all of those restrictions. If this in not in writing, all of your affiliates can have your trademarked name in their ads and bid on your name directly competing with you for top placements in Yahoo.

You will need to fill out required paperwork.

http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/legal/trademarks.php


MSN – I have never personally dealt with a trademark issue with MSN. I am sure issues will arise shortly as MSN serves only their Adcenter ads. According to MSN:

Advertisers sometimes bid on as keywords, or include within the text of their advertisements, words that are the trademarks of others.

Microsoft requires all advertisers to agree that they will not bid on keywords, or use in the text of their advertisements, any word whose use would infringe the trademark of any third party or would otherwise be unlawful or in violation of the rights of any third party.

An advertiser may use a third party's trademark as a keyword or under certain circumstances, where the use is truthful and lawful. Such uses may be appropriate under the following circumstances:
Reseller. The Advertiser's website sells authentic goods or services that are distributed under the trademark.
Information Site. The main purpose of the Advertiser's site is to provide information (for example, product reviews) about goods or services represented by the trademark, and the Advertiser does not sell or facilitate the sale of any product or service that competes with the goods or services represented by the trademark.
Dictionary Terms that are Trademarks. The Advertiser is clearly using the ordinary, dictionary use of a term, and the Advertiser's site does not sell, of facilitate the sale, of any product or service that competes with the owner of the trademark for such term.

Except for the above exceptions, an Advertiser should not bid on as keywords, or include within the text of their advertisements, words that are the trademarks of others, including trademarks of the Advertiser's competitor.

If you have a concern that your trademark is being used improperly, please contact MSN by completing the form on the Trademark Concerns Page.


Article written by Al Scillitani

New Google Tool?

Have you heard about Google's new positioning/filtering tool? Are you as confused as everyone else?
http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=10899

I would like to see how the quality index, cost per click, costs that you are actually paying per click, and your competitions costs, all come into play. More to come as it comes in.

Yahoo Changing to Google?

Some time this year, Yahoo is is supposed to be changing their account structure to look like Googles (supposed to be even better).

Now all 3 will be very similar, Google, MSN, and Yahoo. Either Google just lucked out and got it right the first time or they put in the research that was needed before putting out their product? I am just glad that the management of the accounts should be easier now because you can have all the same named campaigns and adgroups. This was hard to do when Yahoo only had Categories and no sub-categories like Google.

The next quetion is, how smoothly will the transition go? Looks like they are taking the first step by creating similar lenght ads http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=9211

Let's keep our fingers crossed.