Trademark on company name

[Derekmolly]

Ok, finally got company name trademarked, submitted complaint to Google about competitors bidding on the name.

Google have now cleared the competitor ads....but if I refresh the page multiple times they reappear every 5th click.......why is this happening????And what can I do about it?

[Brian M]

Owning a trademark does not stop your competition from bidding on that trademark term - it only stops them from displaying that trademark term in their ad in Google (at the moment).

From Google's help section on filing a trademark complaint (in the USA):

"If the advertiser is using the trademark in ad text, we will require the advertiser to remove the trademark and prevent them from using it in ad text in the future. Please note that we will not disable keywords in response to a trademark complaint."

https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=50006

Also, it does not prevent your competitors' ads from showing for related terms, so if your competitor bids on "shoes" and a searcher enters "trademark shoes" your competition may display an ad, as long as it does not contain your "trademark" term in the ad. If you do see your trademark in a competitor's ad, then you need to contact Google via the link above and complain about it.

However, that may change in the near future, as there is a lawsuit pending resolution soon that may alter that practice:

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197006939

Stay tuned for that outcome...

[Derekmolly]

Thanks for the response Brian - What I don't understand is that as soon as we sent the info to google all the ads that normally appear were cleared out....except on every 5th click.

Our company name is a just initials, and ones that don't make up any word, so it isn't coincidence, and these are competitors....but if Google is allowing the bids why don't they appear every time as they always used to?

[Toure]

Its a little different over here in the UK.

"When we receive a complaint from a trademark owner, our review is limited to ensuring that the advertisements at issue are not using a term corresponding to the trademarked term in the ad text or as a keyword trigger. If they are, we will require the advertiser to remove the trademarked term from the ad text or keyword list and will prevent the advertiser from using the trademarked term in the future."

[AussieWebmaster]

Quite possibly your name is included in the expanded match.... Google has varying rules on how trademarks are treated globally but it is hard for them to completely pull competitors ads....