Revised trademark protection policy from Google

Google announced today their trademark protection policy in many countries will be updated to be in line with the policy in place in the US and UK.  In this instance, Google will only investigate trademark protection if a company feels a competitor is being misleading.  So in practice competitors are able to bid on one another’s brand names, but can not include competitive brand names in their ads, or try to ‘trick’ consumers into clicking on their ad instead.

Advertisers have until the 14^th September 2010 to lodge their complaints under the existing policy, after which time the new policy will apply.

Australia, New Zealand and most Asian countries are not affected, although each country can have a unique policy.  Click here for a full list of affected countries.

We continue to urge all advertisers to ensure they have applied for proactive trademark protection in their relevant country.