Trademark Issue

[achronister]

We are having some real issues with Google and their so called trademark rules. Currently, a competitor is bidding on our company name. That is fine if we could bid on theirs, but Google won't let us. We called our rep and they told us that currently we could not bid on their trademarked name but they could ours (even though ours is trademarked as well). They said it would be a few weeks before they could do anything about it.

It had been my understanding that Google was allowing TM bids, but apparently they are not in some cases.

[bhartzer]

It sounds like you need to get your lawyer involved. Have them send a cease and desist to your competitor and that should fix the problem.

[cbp]

bhartzer is right. Get your lawyer to write (bluff) your compeitor. A letter from your lawyer (in more friendly terms) to Google might also help.

CBP

[thusmann]

It would be illegal to use your competitors name in your meta tags or content for positioning purposes. I may also be illegal to use their name in your adwords ad, but it seems like it would not be illegal to advertise via adwords for a competitors name, as long as the name was not included in your ad.

[DarrenC]

Good point Thomas.

Is this really a TM issue? If your company is registered, then does that mean no one can use your company name within Google.

e.g Blue Widgets Limited.

Does that mean that none of the competition of Blue Widgets Limited can use 'Blue Widgets' within Adwords?

IF the word 'Blue Widgets' is a trademarked name then fair enough, you have the right to complain with Google and the competitor.

IMHO

[kikkertm]

Google does not 'really' allow it. Search for 'ebay' or 'google' or 'amazon' and have a look at the adwords..

[thusmann]

It is possible that Google only considers names with the "TM" symbol in them for this rule. Afterall, how would someone know if a term is trademarked if there is no registered trademark or common-law trademark symbol present?

[Mel]

You might be interested in this discussion of the problem.

[primeseattickets]

It seems brokers bid on the word ticketmaster and it is a trade mark!Look at yahoo term ticket master.
What about all the trade mark urls people are using withe the trade mark mlb this and mlb that.

[achronister]

Yes, everyone seems to be able to bid on those terms. However when other brokers can bid on our company name and we can't bid on theirs. That's my issue.