23 replies to this topic

[Betty]

According to a recent chat I had with google about adwords, you can bid on a trademarked name to trigger an ad, but you can't have the trademarked name in the ad itself.

This is a fairly recent change, according to the employee I was chatting with.

[arteworks]

There is a court case from the late 90's related to this. Someone was spamming their meta tags with brand names of competitors, in order to draw traffic away from the competing site.

Of course, the metadata was invisible to the human eye. However, the court ruled that this still was not "fair use" and entered an injunction against this type of practice - i.e. using brand names to draw traffic away from competition, even if the brand name is "hidden".

I crafty lawyer, or in fact not so crafty lawyer, could make this applicable to PPC, IMHO.

That is not to say it would ever happen, though.

[ShopGirl]

As long as you are selling the product in question it shouldn't be an issue. If you are implying that you are selling the item or trying to 'confuse' the searcher that you sell the item that is where the problems come in.
Some manufactures don't like you to bid on their product names and will contact you to cease and desist (which I recommend you do in that case) but most don't care if you are actually selling their product. It's still money in their pocket in the end whether you sell it or they do.

[goodman]

Does anyone know the legal requirements if you were trying to see if anyone had problems or issues with a particular product? 

Example: You are a consumer and you purchased a child's toy and it had a faulty part.

Could you use the toy product name / manufacturer in the AdWord if you're not the company.

Legally, you could do this, though you are going up against a large company which would no doubt threaten you with legal action for defamation.

Practically: Google and Yahoo run the ad auction and can refuse any ad they like. They probably won't like the controversy and may find a way to ensure that this type of example never sees the light of day.

Those more familiar with such things, such as personal injury law firms, have no doubt experimented a bit on this front, but again, their use of such keywords rests on a thin thread if the publishers (Google, etc.) decide to pull the plug -- not necessarily for clear legal reasons, but just because they dislike legal controversy. It is hard to run a company when there is constant legal controversy so you tend not to go looking for it.

There is a reason that "mesothelioma" got up to $50/click. If that was actually a company name, it might've done also at one point, but in reality that class of words, in connection with controversy, is likely going to create problems with both automated and manual reviews.

I've posted an interesting screen shot on my blog at http://www.traffick....e-fair-game.asp (I didn't want to link but I'm having trouble posting an image here).

That should give you an idea of what happens on a regular basis. Company names associated with bad things -- there is no legal reason to suppress these across the board, though there may be attempts to do so.

Such content would more commonly be found in organic SERP's and news, however.

[Hawaii SEO]

Sometimes it all depends on if you’re a direct competitor or a reseller.

Sometimes it’s OK to bid on these terms if you are selling the product but it’s usually frowned upon if you’re a direct competitor, selling the competing product.

A good rule to follow is… If in doubt, don’t do it.
The last thing you want to do is get yourself or your employer sued.

If you’re a reseller, just email them. I’m sure you’ll get a clear answer very quickly.

If you’re the direct competition… My advice would be just “Be Yourself”. (IMO) This is still a great policy and is very unlikely to get you into trouble.

Besides… You don’t want to be a “Wannabe”. :^)

Wannabe: A wannabe (sometimes spelled wannabee) Someone attempting to emulate a person or genre of people but failing and earning the disgust of those he is attempting to become like.

If you are a direct competitor… Why not rely on the strength of your own brand? If people aren’t searching for you, than maybe your money would be better spent on advertising and promoting your brand instead of siphoning or poaching traffic from people who have already made this branding investment.

Aloha,
Dave.

[Jill]

Welcome Dave!

[redsonia!]

Aloha, Dave!