Google has announced it will allow Irish, UK and Canadian advertisers to use trademarks within their ad text. “These advertisers include resellers, sellers of component, replacement or compatible parts corresponding to the trademark and informational sites,” says Google. Last year Google changed its trademark policy in the U.S. to allow advertisers to use third party trademarks in their ad text even if they don’t own that trademark (or have permission from the trademark owner to use it). The move caused consternation for some brand and trademark owners because it allowed resellers to buy third party trademarks as keywords.
Since May 2008, advertisers have been able to bid on trademarked phrases on Google, but use of trademarks within ad text has strictly been with the trademark owner’s permission only. Google says the changes to allow third party trademarks in ad text is a good thing. “We believe that this change has helped both our users and advertisers by improving the usefulness of text ads on Google.com and across partner sites in the U.S. For example, resellers of jeans have been able to highlight the actual brands they sell in their ad text making their ads even more specific and relevant for users,” said the company in a statement.
One of the stipulations of an advertiser including trademarks in ad text is that they must link through to a page about the trademark or product. This means that retailers and resellers will be able to use the trademark, but competitors will not.
This latest move by Google follows its landmark legal victory over Louis Vuitton in the EU courts. Louis Vuitton took legal action against Google over the use of its company’s trademarked brand names in search ads. “Google has not infringed trademark law by allowing advertisers to purchase keywords corresponding to their competitors’ trademarks,” said the European Court of Justice. Many trademark owners feel some advertisers can now enjoy a commercial advantage by piggy-backing on the reputation of the trademarks.
Others suggest the trademark argument is irrelevant considering the advancements in technology and how functions like Google Goggles (above) will change the nature of search and the use or trademarks forever.

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