When Search Engine Marketing and Trademarks Collide

In the world of marketing, branding issues are always an important part of any campaign. Companies work hard for your name to be recognized as a quality organization and a leader in its field. Companies will defend any action they see as a negative to their brand. They do not want unauthorized third parties to advertise their products as they can do in a poor way, which will generate negative consequences for the quality of the brand of the company. Recently, Google was accused of violations by Geico and blinds brand in America. The cases (C 03-05340 JF U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Califo
ia, San Jose Division) have gone to the discovery phase of litigation, which means that judges have said no is now sufficient to justify the facts possibly these demands. The impact of this study could be serious for search marketers.

A "brand" is a word, a symbol (eg, Logo) or phrase that is used to identify a particular product and distinguish it from other products on the market. The degree of distinctiveness or uniqueness is what usually determines legal protection. Terms or symbols that are unique to a particular product or company usually do not receive protection. Generic terms are not protected. The claims made by Geico and American Blinds are that Google AdWords program violates the law by allowing competitors to buy keywords that are protected trademarks. Geico and American Blinds contest that by allowing advertisers to bid on the keyword that is essentially the same as selling the Geico or American name Blinds without permission.

Trademark law was instituted primarily to protect the consumer. When a customer sees a brand or logo, they associate a certain quality and expectation of the logo. If inferior companies were allowed to use the same logo and have worse products or services, the consumer does not know what to expect. With trademark law the consumer gets a degree of certainty and avoids confusion or unmet expectations.

According to lawyers this litigation could be very complicated. What Google has to do is convince the court that there is no customer confusion regarding how keywords and ads based on Google searches. Most likely be set by running various consumer surveys. If successful, this would set a legal precedent preventing future demands of the same nature, however, there is a big risk if Google fails. One hundred ninety-five to ninety-nine of Google's revenue model is in their advertising, and a ruling against him could be a problem for the company. If installed, however, as it did then the suggestion that sets no legal precedent allowing other companies doing the same charges in the future.

Whatever the outcome, it is clear that in the coming months something will happen to the search marketing. At least, Google will have to monitor trademark infringement a little more vigorously, in the worst of the company may lose some of their income.