As a business you spend years and thousands of dollars in resources to build your brand to the point that it’s recognizable. You may be protecting the use of your registered trademarks in traditional media, but are you also monitoring and taking the necessary steps to protect the use of your trademark in Google Adwords?
Even if you aren’t currently using pay per click advertising, it’s important for you to pay attention to who is using your brand within their online advertising in Google. They could be benefiting from your hard work or even worse, tarnishing it!
In the offline world, companies are generally cautious about unintentionally using another company’s trademarked logo, brand name or slogan. However for some reason in the online world for those companies using pay per click advertising, some of them see the use of a competitor’s trademark as a free-for-all and that it’s okay for them to use your brand name or slogan within their ad. And in some ways it is a free-for-all.
According to Google’s Trademark Policy:
“With Google AdWords, advertisers may select trademarked terms as keywords or use them in the content of the ad. As a provider of space for advertisements, Google is not in a position to arbitrate trademark disputes between advertisers and trademark owners…
…However, as a courtesy to trademark owners, Google is willing to perform a limited investigation of reasonable complaints.”
In general, advertisers are not prohibited from using any trademark in their:
- Ad Copy
- Display URL
- List of keywords/phrases they are bidding on
Unless…you – the trademark owner – takes the necessary steps to protect your brand.
Much like in the offline world, registering a trademark is just the first step in the process. It doesn’t necessarily stop other companies from misusing your brands. It’s up to you to monitor for misuse and if you do find someone using your logo, brand or product names and slogans in a magazine or television ad, you would either call them directly or send a nasty cease & desist letter.
With Google AdWords the steps are pretty similar. If you do find a competitor or other advertiser using your trademarked terms within their Google AdWords ad text or display URL you should follow these steps to protect what’s rightfully yours:
- Contact the Offending Advertiser - Find their contact information and get your legal representative to draft a straightforward and stern cease & desist letter outlining that they must stop the misuse of your registered trademark (and give them proof that you have registered the trademark with the proper governing body). Send this letter via email as well as in hard copy. Give them a deadline when they have to stop this activity, to make sure they understand that you have your eye on them. And if they don’t stop this activity you’ll escalate this by taking the proper legal actions.
- File a Complaint with Google & Register Your Trademark with Google AdWords – Right after you click send on that cease & desist email, start the complaint process with Google right away. The complaint process could take several days or even weeks. To file a complaint go to the Google Adwords Trademark Complaint Form . To not only file a complaint, but also to inform Google of your trademarks. Before you file with Google you must have the following information handy:
- A list of your trademarks and the trademark registration numbers. During this time it is probably best to file all your trademarks with Google at this time to ensure this doesn’t happen again. The form gives you up to 10 trademarks you can let Google know about, but you are free to upload this type of info so don’t let that limit you from submitting more.
- A list of the advertisers (including their Google AdWords Customer ID) who are allowed to use your trademarks within Google AdWords. Advertisers such as the internet marketing agency responsible for your PPC campaign, affiliates, franchisees or third-party partners.
By taking these steps and filing your trademarks with Google, they will prevent other advertisers from using your trademarks in the future and help you maintain your competitive advantage.
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Note: Although you can stop advertisers from using your trademarks within any part of their advertising. You cannot prevent them from bidding on keywords related to your trademark. It is also worthwhile to note that this process also does not apply to Google’s organic search results.
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