Having a popular, well-known brand can be a real asset to any search marketing campaign, you know it… and so do your competitors. While Microsoft Advertising’s editorial policy on trademarks requires all advertisers to agree that they will not infringe upon the trademarks of others, enforcing this policy is challenging.
What do you do when you discover that your competitors are bidding on your trademarked terms or are using them in their ad copy? Well, there are steps you can take to shut the competition down for those particular keywords, but only if they truly are infringing upon your trademark rights.
Follow this simple check list to know if you’re in a position to take action!
Is your competitor a reseller of the products and/or services of that trademarked brand?
If your competitors are authorized by the trademark owner to sell the products/services offered by that trademark, then they are within their rights to bid on those trademarked terms. If you own the trademark and you know for a fact that the competition using your trademarked terms does not have the authorization to do so, then you should proceed to the next criterion.
Is this competitor’s site dedicated solely to information on the trademarked product/service?
If the site owned by the competitor in question is only providing information about the trademarked products, but does not in any way sell or enable the selling of said products, this is not in violation of Microsoft Advertising’s policy on trademarks. Although the owner of this site may technically be considered “competition” in terms of your search engine marketing campaign, in reality, they could actually be helping you by providing the information buyers are looking for before making a purchase (hopefully from you!).
Is the term in question a “dictionary” term?
For example, if I own a window washing company and I’m bidding on terms having to do with “windows”, doing so does not put me in violation of Microsoft’s trademark for their operating systems.
If you’ve gone through this checklist and still believe that your competitor is violating your trademark rights, there are steps you can take to let us know about it and have your concerns addressed. Start by visiting the Trademark Concern Page and review the “Notes” section for additional information on steps you should take before taking action. On that page you will find links to submit your trademark concern either online or by mail.
Additionally, for those of you hungry for more editorial information, check out Jason Yormark’s post about the adExcellence tutorial on Editorial Guidelines.
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