Apr 26, 2012 at 1:59pm ET by Ted Ives

It’s been long known in the industry that brand term keywords garner a much higher click-through-rate. As a result, marketers often start by bidding on their own brand terms.

Related Topics: Enterprise SEM | How To: PPC | How To: SEM | Legal: Trademarks

Question Of Whether It’s Legal To Use Trademarks As Keywords Revived On Appeal in Rosetta Stone/Google Case

Apr 9, 2012 at 7:07pm ET by Pamela Parker

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit today revived part of Rosetta Stone's trademark lawsuit against Google, meaning the search giant's permitting the use of trademarked terms in AdWords is still legally questionable in the United States. It's the first time an appellate court has ruled in a case of this kind. Previously, a federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia issued a summary judgment in the case in 2010, essentially saying that the language software maker didn't have a valid trademark infringement claim against Google. Rosetta Stone appealed. The company h [...]

Related Topics: Google: AdWords | Google: Legal | Legal: Trademarks

Domain Seizures, De-Indexing And Censorship: Nevada Judge Dramatically Exceeds Limits Of His Authority

Dec 1, 2011 at 10:13am ET by Greg Sterling

There's a multi-pronged assault on the internet going on now. It comes from over-zealous legislators, the US executive branch and individual judges. There's an effort on multiple fronts to grant over-broad powers to copyright owners to instigate domain seizures, cut-off funds and de-index "rogue" websites if found guilty of "infringement," where that concept is very expansively defined with potentially disastrous consequences for free speech and legitimate internet operations. As you've no doubt read there are two pieces of anti-piracy legislation before the US Congress: SOPA and the P [...]

In Interflora Case, EU OKs Bidding On Trademarks With Some Restrictions

Sep 23, 2011 at 8:16am ET by Pamela Parker

The European Union's Court of Justice has ruled in the long-running Interflora case against Marks & Spencer, which involves bidding on trademarked terms, and the decision is no clear victory for either party. Instead, it OKs trademark bidding so long as the resulting ad offers an alternative to the mark holder's service and doesn't cause dilution, tarnishment or adversely affect the functions of the trademark. The case involved a situation in which retailer Marks & Spencer bid on the florist network's trademarked keywords and phrases, including variants, in Google AdWords in the [...]

Related Topics: Google: AdWords | Legal: Trademarks

Australian Watchdog Loses Case Against Google Over Deceptive Ads

Sep 22, 2011 at 10:37am ET by Barry Schwartz

ACCC loses misleading ads case against Google via the Sydney Morning Herald reports the ACCC, Australian Competition and Consumers Commission, has lost their has in an Australian Federal court against Google. The watchdog group sued Google over deceptive ads back in 2007. The federal judge, Justice John Nicholas dismissed the case saying the Google was not liable for advertisers using competitors' names and trademarks in their ads. You can read the full court document over here. A Google spokeswoman said, "Our guiding principle has always been that advertising should benefit both [...]

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