As a provider of space for advertisements, please note that Google is not in a position to arbitrate trademark disputes between the advertisers and trademark owners. As stated in our Terms and Conditions, the advertisers themselves are responsible for the keywords and ad content that they choose to use. Accordingly, we encourage trademark owners to resolve their disputes directly with the advertisers, particularly because the advertisers may have similar advertisements on other sites.
As a courtesy to trademark owners, however, we are willing to perform a limited investigation of reasonable complaints.
Trademark owners may submit either a specific or general trademark complaint. A specific complaint means that we will investigate a trademark term(s) in specific advertisements only. The trademark owner is required to provide the exact URLs in question and we will not investigate the trademark in any other advertisements.
A general complaint means that we will investigate the trademark in all relevant advertisements. The trademark owner does not need to provide the specific URLs in question. However, if there are specific advertisers that are authorized to use the trademark(s), the trademark owner is required to provide the corresponding customer ID(s) or Login email(s).
Additionally, please note that our complaint procedure regarding the use of a trademark in ad text and as a keyword may differ depending on the country in which trademark rights exist.
Please note: The following procedure applies only to the use of terms that may be trademarks in advertisements, which are clearly marked as sponsored links on our results pages. We do not take action on objections to the use of trademarks in sites that appear in our search results, i.e., the left-side of a results page. For any such objections, please contact the site owner directly.
On this page:
- AdWords Trademark Complaint Procedure - Trademark rights in US, UK, Ireland and Canada
AdWords Trademark Complaint Procedure - Trademark rights outside US, UK, Ireland and Canada - Trademark complaint form
- AdWords Trademark Authorization Process
| Policy Change to the AdWords Trademark Complaint Procedure in the UK and Ireland |
Please note we have made a policy revision that applies to complaints we receive regarding trademarks in the UK and Ireland. Beginning May 5th, 2008, we will no longer review a term corresponding to the trademarked term as a keyword trigger. However, we will continue to perform a limited courtesy investigation of complaints regarding ad text purported to be in violation of a trademark.
More information regarding this policy change is available here.
| AdWords Trademark Complaint Procedure – Trademark rights in US, UK, Ireland and Canada |
When we receive a complaint from a trademark owner, we only investigate the use of the trademark in ad text. If the advertiser is using the trademark in ad text, we will require the advertiser to remove the trademark and prevent them from using it in ad text in the future. Please note that we will not disable keywords in response to a trademark complaint. In addition, please note that any such investigation will only affect ads served on or by Google.
If you are a trademark owner (or represent a trademark owner) and have an objection to an advertiser's use of a term corresponding to your trademark in ad text that is consistent with the foregoing, please fill out the following form:
Trademark complaint form
- To submit your complaint online, complete the required fields and select the "Submit" button provided.
- To submit your complaint via mail or fax, please complete the following steps:
- Fill in all required fields on our online complaint form.
- When finished, select the "Submit" button provided.
- Finally, print the email confirmation and send it to one of the following addresses:
Google Inc.
Attn: Advertising Legal Support Team
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
Or via fax to: 650-649-1774
Attn: Google Trademark Complaints
Or via email to ads-trademarks@google.com
v. 040408
| AdWords Trademark Complaint Procedure – Trademark rights outside US, UK, Ireland and Canada |
When we receive a complaint from a trademark owner, our review is limited to ensuring that the advertisements at issue are not using a term corresponding to the trademarked term in the ad text or as a keyword trigger. If they are, we will require the advertiser to remove the trademarked term from the ad text or keyword list and will prevent the advertiser from using the trademarked term in the future. Please note that any such investigation will only affect ads served on or by Google.
Furthermore, please be aware that we do not take any action in situations where an advertisement is being triggered by non-trademarked terms even though the search query contains a trademarked term. This stems from the fact that Google allows advertisers to use a broad matching system to target their ads. For example, if an advertiser has selected the keyword shoes , that advertiser's ad will appear when a user enters the word "shoes" as a search query, regardless of other search terms that may be used. So, the ad would show if the user entered any of the following search queries: "tennis shoes," "red shoes," or "Nike shoes." This system eliminates the need for the advertiser to specify individually the many different search query combinations that are relevant to their ad.
If you are a trademark owner (or represent a trademark owner) and have an objection to an advertiser's use of a term corresponding to your trademark as a keyword or in ad text that is consistent with the foregoing, please fill out the following form:
Trademark complaint form
- To submit your complaint online, complete the required fields and select the "Submit" button provided.
- To submit your complaint via mail or fax, please complete the following steps:
- Fill in all required fields on our online complaint form.
- When finished, select the "Submit" button provided.
- Finally, print the email confirmation and send it to one of the following addresses:
Google Inc.
Attn: Advertising Legal Support Team
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
Or via fax to: 650-649-1774
Attn: Google Trademark Complaints
Or via email to ads-trademarks@google.com
v. 040408
| AdWords Trademark Authorization Process |
In order for Google to allow the use of a trademark that we are investigating for per the complaint of the trademark owner, we require direct authorization from the trademark owner (or contact person listed on the trademark complaint). As such, please review the below criteria to determine whether you are eligible to submit an authorization request form.
Criteria:
We only accept authorization requests directly from the trademark owner or from the contact person listed on the trademark complaint. We are not able to accept requests from regional branches or subsidiaries of the trademark owner, unless they are the contact person listed on the trademark complaint form or previously authorized by the trademark owner.
We only accept non-conditional authorization requests. Therefore, please do not include conditions for which the trademark may only be used, such as time period or type of ad content. We are only able to prohibit or allow all use of a particular term by an advertiser. Trademark owners may revoke the authorization at any time.
Please do not use this form unless you are the trademark owner or the contact person listed on the trademark complaint. Trademark owners may also use this form to authorize their own accounts.
If you agree with the statements above, please:
- To submit your authorization online, complete the required fields and select the "Submit" button provided.
- To submit your authorization via mail or fax, please complete the following steps:
- Fill in all required fields on our online authorization form.
- When finished, select the "Submit" button provided.
- Finally, print the email confirmation and send it to one of the following addresses:
Google Inc.
Attn: Google AdWords, Trademark Complaints
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
Or via fax to: 650-649-1774
Attn: Google AdWords Authorization Request
Or via email to ads-trademarks@google.com
