Google Adwords to allow advertisers to use trademarks in ad text
An announcement from Google this morning confirmed a change to the trademark policy effective from 14 September 2010.
Under the new policy, advertisers will be able to use competitor’s trademark terms in their ad text. Google will continue to investigate complaints under the existing policy up until 14 September.
However, under the new legislation, Google will investigate if the use of a trademark and the ad text provide uncertainty of the goods or services - website content must be relevant to the trademark in question.
The UK market experienced a bumpy ride when trademark bidding was allowed back in May 2008 and this amendment is likely to cause some questions to be raised.
Ultimately, Google is ensuring that the relevance for users is still maintained by investigating any misuse of a trademark term in an ad text.
