Google To Allow Bidding On Keyword Trademarks In UK

Apr 4, 2008 at 8:34am ET by Barry Schwartz

The UK PPC Blog tipped me off to Google announcing that the UK AdWords trademark policy has been changed to work like the US AdWords trademark policy.

What this means is that UK advertisers can now bid on trademark terms. Earlier, those trademarked terms were blocked from bidding on within the AdWords network. The US policy allows advertisers to bid on many trademarked terms, but does not allow the advertiser to include that trademark within the ad content, in most cases.

Google has a Search Engine Roundtable this morning.

What will happen to existing trademark complaints?

Complaints received prior to April 4, 2008: We will investigate complaints against trademark use in ad text and keywords. Complaints will be processed according to the current policy.
Complaints received on or after April 4, 2008: If the complaint requests that we prevent use of the trademark in ad text, we will continue our efforts to support this request. Complaints will be processed under our revised procedure.
All Complaints: Beginning in May 2008, keywords that were disabled as a result of a trademark complaint and investigation will no longer be restricted in the UK and Ireland.

This is a major change for UK AdWords advertisers. Some advertisers will be delighted by this change but others might be a little upset with it, to say the least.

Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here.

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