Beginning June 15, 2009, Google is relaxing its policy on use of trademarks in ad copy text.

In the past, Google has restricted the use of brand names in ad text and was willing to take action to prevent it which allowed you to authorize specific resellers to use your brand while restricting the remainder of the market.

Now Google will allow previously disapproved ads to run on Google.com and the content network in the USA, without the need for approval by the trademark owner.

Who stands to benefit?

Google stands to gain most here, with advertising revenues set for a boost due to a higher cost per click and potentially more clicks on trademark terms as more ads compete for space on the search engine results page.

Others standing to benefit will be new market entrants or smaller, less established brands.

The policy change will allow smaller brands to associate themselves with the established names in their sector.

The other advertisers most likely to benefit from the new policy rules will be those selling goods or offering services that are considered to be a commodity, where the price or convenience of the good or service matters more than who is offering it.

Trustworthiness will remain a differentiating factor here, and internet users will still continue to prefer websites that they have transacted on in the past, as long as the experience was positive.

“It makes sense under U.S. law. It’s pro-competitive,” Gene Landy, a trademark attorney with the firm Ruberto, Israel & Weiner PC in Boston, said yesterday in an interview.

“It’s not much different than if I put an ad in the paper that said ‘thinking about buying a Mercedes? Buy a Volvo instead.’”

But owners of prestige brands don’t see it that way. They see use of their terms in Google’s “Sponsored Link” ads is a trademark violation.”

Such use of keywords six years ago triggered a trademark- infringement lawsuit in Europe by luxury retailer LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA.

The owner of Louis Vuitton claimed the practice violates its protected brand names. Google has settled similar U.S. lawsuits by AMR Corp.’s American Airlines and auto-insurer Geico Corp.

In 2006, the Paris Central Court ordered Google to pay LVMH 300,000 euros for trademark infringement.

France’s highest appeals court last year referred the case to the EU tribunal for guidance. A ruling is expected by next year.

Source: Altogether Digital