Do some companies not allow anyone to bid on their trademark? I'm not just talking about their affiliates, but anyone at all. I thought there was a court ruling that said that it was okay. But when I go and look up certain companies I see that there are no other paid listings on MSN or google, sometimes on yahoo there is. And when i try to bid on those terms in MSN (I can't figure out google) my ad doesn't show even though it says my keywords and ad has been approved. What gives?
Well, it's really up to the companies, because they can just ban your affiliate account with them if you don't follow their rules. Now say you have an eBay site that does not make any money through eBay affiliate programs, then I don't see how they could stop you from bidding on their TM... Might still get a C&D though.
Just to clarify, I am talking about the situation where I AM NOT an affiliate of the company but still am trying to bid on the company's name.
it's grey legal territory. despite that, tons of people do it. chances are nothing would happen. if something did happen, the worst it'd be is something along the lines of recieving a cease & desist.
Yeah, I'm trying to do it, but for some companies, my ad won't show, in fact no other ads except the companies home page shows. Do some companies have agreements with the search engines I wonder?