Seems the success in more advertising using trademarked terms in the US allowing “some advertisers to use third party trademarks in their ad text even if they don’t own that trademark or have explicit approval from the trademark owner to use it” has prompted Google to extend theis to Canada, UK and Ireland, according to a Google blog post.
Though it is limited to “some advertisers” supposedly “resellers, sellers of component, replacement or compatible parts corresponding to the trademark and informational sites” there will no doubt be a degree of backlash in Europe though the EU courts recently allowed this. “The change, effective from Sept. 14, follows a ruling by the European Union’s highest court in March that Google doesn’t breach EU law by selling trademark-protected names as keywords, Bloomberg reported.
Again Google claims this is to improve advertiser and user experience – but one has to wonder if it also has something to do with stimulating PPC advertising during a downturn recently.
Though the ruling allows the sale of trademarked terms, it is not clear if this extended to insertion of the words in to the actual ads. No doubt Google is expected it does and if not is ready to contest it in court.
According to Bloomberg, “Google said today any trademark owner that believes a third-party ad in Europe confuses users about the origin of the good or service can also file a complaint. The ad will be removed if Google agrees, it said.”