GOOGLE REMOVES TRADEMARK RESTRICTIONS IN UK/IRELAND
Google has made a policy revision that applies to complaints we receive regarding trademarks in the UK and Ireland. For complaints received on or after Friday, April 4, 2008, they will no longer review a term corresponding to the trademarked term as a keyword trigger. Whilst they have stated they will continue to perform a limited ‘courtesy investigation’ of complaints regarding ad text purported to be in violation of a trademark, it is likely to be just that: a courtesy.
This means it will be possible for competitors to bid on each other’s previously protected brand terms (i.e. Apple could begin bidding on the words “Zune” or “Nokia”) within the UK/Ireland. This represents a lucrative revenue stream for Google as it will draw large SEM spenders, particularly those with protectionist brand strategies, to dramatically increase their bids on those small number of highly used brand words in order to ward off competitors and maintain a top position on the search page.
The flip side being the opportunity to bid on your competitors brand name, giving an advantage to those companies with superior competitive brands (who would you rather fly with if you saw an identical “Cheap Flights” ad for Ryanair versus Emirates?). Either way, it is going to make things messy.
Future plans to roll this out to Australia are unconfirmed. Locally, Google has only adopted the line: “Local laws and business customs differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The revised policy applies to UK and Ireland only.”
To read the official policy revision – click here
