Does anyone know anything about legal position on this ? I'm aware that quite a few people do it as a matter of course in their campaigns, and it's quite common in my space (online retail) I've just had an email from a competitor threatening legal action because my ad displays under a competitor name search, but I would class this as fair competition ? I'm not the only other supplier appearing under this serach either.
Google have guidelines on this stuff. Are you bidding on a trademarked term and including it in your advert? Point your competitors to this page.
Bidding on a company name and associated terms but not including it in the advert - the advert quite clearly states our company name and positions us as an alternative. I'm trying to grow brand awareness within a relevant audience and think this is fair game ? As I undertand it, it's only if you use their name or trademark in your ad it becomes iffy .....?
I also would like to learn the answer to this -- a competitor is using our trading name as a keyword to bring up their alternative product. Is this legal?
Two parts in there- 1. "keywords they choose to generate advertisements" 2. "text that they choose to use in those advertisements" So to me it looks like you're on shaky ground if you bid on competitors' trademarks and brand names- and if someone's doing it to you, you should report it to Google. One principle I've learned about Google: always error on the side of caution.
so if I have a online store that sells microsoft windows, I can't bid on Microsoft or 'microsoft windows' as they are both copyright ? I must say I've seen some people be very direct with this and bid even on a guys website address.
If you have a website selling "Microsoft Windows" then you can bid on it. Normally your ad will need to be reviewed by google before it is made live though.