How to Protect your Brand: Protecting your Trade Mark against Google Ads

Introduction

Most businesses in today’s society use Google Ads as a tool for them to reach their target audience and drive growth. However, whilst you may have a trade mark registered to protect your brand, it does not necessarily protect your brand against your competitors if they use your mark through Google Ads.

There is a key intersection between intellectual property law and online marketing, with brands needing to navigate this space properly to ensure their brand growth.

This article will explore how trade marks interact with Google Ads, what protections are available and practical strategies you can implement to ensure that your trade mark and your overall brand are protected and remain distinct in online marketing.

What are Google Ads and what benefit do they have?

Google Ads is an online advertising platform used by Google. This platform allows businesses to promote their products and/or services across Google and its other partner platforms. It is a key tool that many businesses use to reach specific audiences by displaying their ads based on key words, user behaviour, location and other criteria.

When you search something online through a Google search engine, Google will provide both organic and paid search results. As a business, you can pay Google and select keywords that relate to your product, services and/or your target audience. Once you do this, when users search for those keywords, your ads will appear in the search results. The benefit of this is that businesses can connect with users actively searching for their products and/or services or something similar.

As this is a tool that can be used by anyone, not just businesses, Google does have several policies in place relating Google Ads.

Of key importance to trade mark owners is Google Ads trade mark policy.

Google Ads Trade Mark Policy

Whilst Google Ads is required to abide by local trade mark laws and protect the rights of trade mark owners, there are ways in which Google Ads will not restrict the use of trade marks and as such competitors can use your trade marks as they like.

There are two (2) occasions where your trade mark can be used and where Google Ads will not restrict its use:

1. When the trade mark is used as a keyword; and
2. If the trade mark is used in the second-level domain of the ad’s display URL.

Using a Trade Mark as a Key Word

As briefly mentioned above, key words are the words that businesses can use to select who their ads show up to. An example of this could be using a key word like ‘Nike running shoes’ to reach a specific target audience, which a competitor like Adidas could use despite Nike owning the trade mark for the word ‘Nike’.

This is allowed where the key word is solely used to target specific audiences and where it is clear that there is no affiliation or misleading and deceptive conduct.

However, businesses that purchase key words that infringe on your trade mark cannot use the trade mark in the advertisement itself, meaning that they cannot use it in the headline or description of their advertisement.

Second-level Domain of URL

Your trade mark may also be used by businesses in their display URL without infringing on your trade mark rights, as Google does not consider this text under their policy.

For reference, the domain name such as google.com.au would not allow another person to use a trade mark here but Google could use a brand name in their longer URL as follows: https://google.com.au/lawbase.

What does Google Ads Restrict?

Despite the above, Google Ads do restrict how trade marks can be used.

Specifically, others are prohibited from using your trade mark in an ad or if their ad that uses a trade mark, even in a non-restricted way, is causing confusion or is seen as misleading and deceptive.

What if someone is infringing on my trade mark with a Google Ad?

For trade mark owners, you should keep a close eye on how your competitors are using Google Ads and whether they may be using your trade mark in a way that does not comply with Google’s policies, such as where it is used in a Google Ad in a restricted way.

If this is the case, you can submit a trade mark complaint to Google. Google reviews these complaints and determines whether they should restrict the use of your trade mark in an ad and they will generally apply restrictions on an ongoing basis if a complaint is raised. However, it is worth noting that advertisers who use your trade mark can appeal any restriction on their ads.

Conclusion

With the importance of digital marketing and advertising, it is integral that businesses and trade mark owners understand how their trade marks intersect with Google Ads to ensure that their brand is properly protected. While trade marks offer valuable protection, trade mark owners need to remain vigilant to how they are used in online advertising. It is essential that trade mark owners monitor their trade marks and make a complaint with Google about any misuse or breach of Google’s trade mark policies. It is also important that you bid on key words related to your trade mark to ensure that you are enjoying the benefit of your own trade mark through Google Ads.

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