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  • Answers - Trademark Infringement Issues For Pay-per-Click (PPC) Advertisers

    Yahoo has just announced they will no longer allow PPC advertisers to advertise or bid on trademarked terms.

    Could this be a trend of things to come from the other major search players?

    MSN’s new adCenter (still in beta) states you are not allowed to infringe trademarks within their editorial guidelines (see policy below).

    However, Google still maintains a strong stance in allowing advertisers to bid on trademarked search terms as long a
    According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product
    s the trademarked term is not used within the advertiser’s ad-copy.

    Numbers to Consider

    Next to click fraud, trademark violations are the second largest concern to Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising. Out of the total number of searches online, 20% are trademark searches. Meaning, company owned trademarks such as “Pontiac”, account for 20% of all search traffic. While 1 in 5 searches for trademark terms may seem high, most conversions do not
    ; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

    Examples of combination products may in
    originate from trademarked terms. A study by comScore and Yahoo Search Marketing (Overture) found most buyers do not search by manufacturer or product name. Rather, buyers use broad search terms that do not include a manufacturer’s name. Broad search terms account for 70% of total searches and 60% of total conversions.

    Search Engine’s Policy on PPC Trademark Bidding

    Yahoo on Trademarks:

    "On March 1, 2006, Yahoo! Search Marketing will mo
    lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

    ify its editorial guidelines regarding the use of keywords containing trademarks. Previously, we allowed competitive advertising by allowing advertisers to bid on third-party trademarks if those advertisers offered detailed comparative information about the trademark owners' products or services in comparison to the competitive products and services that were offered or promoted on the advertisers' site.

    In order to more easily
    here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe
    deliver quality user experiences when users search on terms that are trademarks, Yahoo! Search Marketing has determined that we will no longer allow bidding on keywords containing competitor trademarks."

    MSN AdCenter on Trademarks

    “Microsoft requires all advertisers to agree that they will not bid on keywords, or use in the text of their advertisements, any word whose use would infringe the trademark of any third party or would ot
    d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

    Combination pro
    erwise be unlawful or in violation of the rights of any third party”.

    Google Adwords on Trademarks:

    “Google takes allegations of trademark infringement very seriously and, as a courtesy, we're happy to investigate matters raised by trademark owners. Also, our Terms and Conditions with advertisers prohibit intellectual property infringement by advertisers and make it clear that advertisers are responsible for the keywords they choose to ge
    ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc
    nerate advertisements and the text that they choose to use in those advertisements.”

    Solution or More Problems

    With all Engines moving toward a TM standard, it would have many benefits to both advertisers and searchers. This standard would be good for marketers who would have to be more creative in their copy creation creating increased demand for qualified marketers which would translate into higher fees. Search Engines hosting the ads w
    easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi
    uld maintain revenue levels, but online public relations firms may lose as they would not be required to police search engines for their clients with trademarks. Lastly, the mark owner would continue to be protected and user experience would not be affected.

    Case Study:

    I’m currently working with an AdWords client in a circumstance where their competitors are bidding on their trademarked search terms. Aside from the constant policing and
    nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically
    reporting for trademark violations used in the ads themselves, adspend to secure top positions for their ads has skyrocketed from an initial $2.00 per click to $15.00 per click. Additionally, monthly spend has increased from $1,200 to nearly $30,000.

    I have to go back to my client with an estimated budget of $500,000 for the rest of this year to control the space for their own branded trademarked term. I am reluctant to do that as it doe
    and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ
    n’t make sense with the announcement from Yahoo on their new trademark policy. Given the level of aggression by the competitors and the extortionate cost now been borne by my client there is only one solution and that is to stop all advertisers from bidding on the terms. In my opinion, it is simply not right that a business owner has to spend $500,000+ to buy their own branded term that has already cost them millions of dollars to build.
    ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi
    This is $500,000+ in revenue for Google which is being generated by a policy that is beyond elementary business terms. Yahoo and MSN have recognized the injustice of this policy and have taken steps to change it.

    If we cannot treat this policy on a case by case basis, then I have no alternative than to advise my client that we cannot help them any further and their only option is to resort to legal action against Google.

    Google also adv
    ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

    Following aspects would a
    ises that you take the matter up with individual advertisers which in many cases are impossible with private registrations and foreign companies. You could add to your high costs dramatically to have to send cease desists to all infringers. Many will ignore you.

    The classic bait and switch does not seem to apply to the Internet. Many companies are okay with their terms being bought for comparison shopping and by re-sellers. The solution
    dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

    Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
    Which combination prod
    here is for those companies to give permission to Google to allow their re-sellers to purchase the name. With the strength and sophistication of Google’s technology how difficult can this be? I doubt it is any more cumbersome than filtering search results for China.

    Your Defense Against Trademark Violations

    Website companies where the majority of their revenue is generated through online sales depend heavily on search engines to generate
    cts are meaningful and rational?
    Which therapeutic categories to select?
    Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
    Do combin
    traffic to their website. In order to defend against trademark infringements you will need to conduct search audits at least once every month. You not only need to look over organic search results, but also paid search results or PPC contextual ads. You should look through the top 30 results of the search listings.

    For organic search engine results you should look at both the questionable result and the site displayed in the result. When
    tions increase the patient compliance?
    What would be the developing cost?
    How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen
    ooking over the possible violator’s site, don’t just look over the visible content on the site; look over the code as well to uncover hidden text, image alt tags and keyword meta tags that may include your trademarked names.

    Then document your findings. For search engine results and PPC results use a “screen capture” of the page displaying the mark infringement. For mark infringements that are visible on a website, save the entire page’s c
    t?

    As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel
    ode as a .txt file.

    What about if you are you seeing an infringement in organic search results, but when you click on the page, there is no infringement? They may be using a cloaked page which includes your trademark. To check this out you will need to view the search engine’s cached page on file. Make sure to save a copy of this code as well.

    You will need to document your findings properly by dating the violation as well as the site own
    ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

    Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust
    r’s complete contact information. Use http://www.dnsstuff.com to get the whois information for the site. Once you have all of this documented you will need to send your findings to the appropriate search engine.

    You may also want to take the legal route, in which case you should keep a record of all your documentation to present to your legal counsel.

    The best way to gather evidence is to hire a third party to collect evidence against the
    y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products
    infringer of your trademark or copyrighted material. Recently at Search Engine Strategies in New York City during February of 2006, Deborah Wilcox, Partner of Baker & Hostetler LLP who specializes in trademark and copyright areas of law said, “Use a third party to make print outs and audit the search results. If the case goes to court you will need hard evidence for the judge.”

    Contact the Search Engines

    You can also contact the search
    .

    As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de
    ngines directly if you believe an advertiser is infringing on your trademark. The respective search engine contact information is below.

    Google
    Google Inc.
    Attn: Google AdWords, Trademark Complaints
    2400 Bayshore Parkway
    Mountain View, CA 94043

    Yahoo! Search Marketing
    Formerly: Overture Services, Inc.
    Attn: Business & Legal Affairs - Trademarks
    74 N. Pasadena Ave., 3rd Floor
    Pasadena, California 911
    elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

    Companies that provide selfless information through particip
    03
    Fax: 626 685-5601

    Microsoft Corporation
    Attn: MSN Search Trademark Concerns
    One Microsoft Way
    Redmond, WA 98052
    USA

    Trademark Infringement Resources
    International Trademark Association www.inta.org
    American Patent & Trademark Law Center www.patentpending.com
    Internet patent, copyright, trademark, and legal issues www.bitlaw.com
    Trademarks on the Internet www.bitlaw.com/trademark/internet.htm


    tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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