Chapter 22. Trademark Infringement

Competitors might click paid listings in an attempt to waste advertisers' marketing budgets . To add insult to injury , the brazen ones attack advertisers head on by bidding on advertisers' trademarks and redirecting traffic to their own web sites.

Trademark owners who are not already aware of this problem are going to soon get a shocking wake-up call. Many still aren't marketing their branded terms on the search engines, let alone policing the space for their competitors. While trademark owners sleep their customers are being wooed away.

Savvy trademark owners have and continue to engage in the trademark protection battle. With an increasing number of complaints from big brand owners, and growing media exposure, the search engines are responding. They're posting trademark (and copyright) infringement complaint procedures on their web sites, and most remove competitors' ad listings of trademark owners who report infringement.

Important

Because I'm not a lawyer, I can't offer legal counsel on trademark issues. Please use this chapter as an educational resource, and then consult an attorney if you need legal representation or advice.

Are search engines proactively monitoring the trademark space? Not generally . For one thing, they can't. It's not their job or within their resources to research and manage company trademarks. And think about it. Search engines make more money with a greater number of advertisers who increase their bids. If trademark owners don't complain, search engines and competitors quietly profit.

Trademark owners, it's time to make some noise.