Hi, I read some of the past trade threads on trademarks. From what I understood 1. You cannot use adwords for a trademarked word, e.g geforce 2. You are fine in using it for an exact match with the model, e.g "geforce 8800" Is this correct?
This is Google policy on trademarks: Authorization to Use Trademarks in Your Ad Campaign If we have received and processed a complaint for a trademark, advertisers seeking to use the mark in the countries and industry of the trademark owner will have their keywords and/or ad text disapproved. For ads targeting the U.S. and Canada, the use of the trademark in ad text will be disapproved; outside the U.S. and Canada, use of the trademark may be disapproved as a keyword or in ad text or both, depending on the request of the trademark owner. If an advertiser has been restricted from using a trademark and disagrees with the owner's assertion of exclusive rights or believes he has a right to use the mark, we encourage the advertiser to contact the trademark owner directly and request permission to use the trademark. Only if the trademark owner provides Google with an authorization will the advertiser be able to use the trademark in his ad campaign. Please note that the trademark owner may change or rescind the authorization at any time. It seems that if some manufacturers or trademark holders have already requested their trademarks not be used, it will automatically be rejected. I would assume that using the trademark name to sell a product should not be a problem. Manufacturers would want people to sell THEIR product over a competitor, and using the product name is a must. I wouldn't worry about it unless Google rejects your ad.
I think there are two sides to the issue, the legal and the practical. The bottom line on the legal is an owner of a registered (not just declared) trademark can impose any restriction they want on the trademark. The practical is a trademark owner will probably only seek restrictions if it is in their own best interest. A couple of examples are they are bidding on the trademark and don't want the cpc to be driven up by affiliates or they feel there is some damage being done to the mark by others using it. I think the key to Google terms is they aren't going to do anything unless a trademark holder asks them to, and then you just get your ad disabled. Cheers, John Andrew Morrison
from my experience you cannot use TM terms in the headline of the ad, eg. "Sony", "Ibook", "Imac", "Apple" etc...but you CAN use them as keywords !
Well Google is bit strange on trademarks as the keywords "Tomtom Go 720" "Pioneer Avic" are fine in my campaigns, but "kids Indian clothes" was rejected due to trademark issues. Go figure...
In the US market, you may use trademarks as keywords, but you may not use protected trademarks in the ad copy (whether or not it is part of a model number). The keyword is protected trademarks - not all trademark holders have placed automatic trademark protection on their brand names (so that retailers can bid on their names & sell their goods, for manufacturers who don't sell direct-to-consumers).
It really depends on the trademark holder. Several affiliate programs allow their trademark to be used in the ad itself. Talk to your aff manager and see what it allowed. When ever possible I go with the company that allows me to have their trademark in AdWords ads