- Image via Wikipedia
If you know how to play the Adwords game correctly then you’ve already been immunized for Google Slap chicken-little-affiliate-inferiority-complex syndrome (GSCLAICS – pronounced as GS-Clay-Icks).
Well amigos, I have more good news for you -
Luis Vuitton got all Frenchie on Google and Google does what it does; it bitch slapped Luis in a European court of law.
King Luis sought to ban the privilege of bidding on King Luis’ trademarked terms. And in this case it arose from Vuitton going after counterfeiters selling cheap Vuitton knock-0ffs.
Well, guess what happened?
The court ruled in Google’s favor (and ours too). You can, legally, bid on any keyword phrase you want – not just in the US, but the EU too. Yes, even people selling COUNTERFEIT copies!
I consider this a win for affiliates – read more here or Google’s version of the story.
Oh, and don’t miss this line from Google . . .
Our guiding principle has always been that advertising should benefit users, and our aim is to ensure that ads are relevant and useful. We will study the decision as we move forward in order to make sure that we continue to deliver advertising that is perceived as both valuable and relevant by our users.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=012dbefa-c374-47c3-8ad6-c9d4eb5ca848)
Join the forum discussion on this post - (2) Posts
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hmm – very interesting. So does this mean places like Blockbuster can no longer stop you from bidding on their name, say with a NetFlix ad? (not that that would fly anymore with Google’s inane relevancy algos)
Hi Jonathan -
This is exactly what Google has continued to fight legal battles on – it’s always been OK to run a Netflix ad when bidding on Blockbuster. You probably can’t put the Blockbuster name in your ad though, however see the display URL tricks I teach to fudge that a bit.
Also with pleasing Google’s algo you’ll likely need to take people to a page that does have something to do with Blockbuster – like a comparison review between Blockbuster and Netflix with the focus on selling Netflix.
I touched on some on this in webinar 24.
Hope you’re doing well, eh.
All the best to you – X
Ok, that makes sense – I like the comparison review idea. I guess I was also thinking about how this affects us bidding on any trademarked name, in general. For instance, on CJ.com you’ll find many advertisers who don’t allow bidding on their trademarked terms. I guess at the end of the day, they just say “we’re not paying you commissions on those sales” and its not even a Google issue at that point anymore.
Doin’ very well, thanks – and same to you!
You must log in to post a comment.