Trademark protection guidelines could lead to millions in costs
Munich, 5 August 2010 – LBi and bigmouthmedia, which together form Europe's biggest agency network for digital marketing and technology, have pointed out that Google's new trademark protection guidelines could cost some of the largest European companies millions in the short term as they attempt to secure protection for their brands online.
Yesterday, Google announced at its press conference that as of 14 September 2010, use of trademarked terms in advertising copy might still be prohibited, but this regulation does not cover third parties bidding for keywords.
Lyndsay Menzies, COO at bigmouthmedia, says, "Our offices in the US and UK have been working under this regulation for a number of years now. Teams on the continent will now benefit from their experience, so we will have no trouble adapting to the latest changes in search engine marketing. Nonetheless, Google's announcement will probably have an effect on some markets as companies shift their budgets to other online channels in an attempt to maximise their ROI."
There are fears that Google's decision to extend bidding rights for trademarked terms to third parties within Europe will lead to higher prices in the markets affected by the move. When this change in the company's regulations came into force in the UK in 2008, bids for some trademarked terms rose by almost 500% in the short term. However, this spike in prices faded relatively quickly, partly because UK brands did not want to get caught up in an aggressive bidding war. It could of course be the case that things turn out differently in other European countries, and messy struggles could break out among bidders on the Continent.
Ron HIllman of LBi Iven & Hillmann says, "The value of brands will take a drubbing. Google is using this situation for its own gain. I think their claims that this is so users benefit by making research better and easier is of secondary importance. As a technology service provider, Google has merely rid itself of the brand problem it could face in Europe's courts. To me, the fact that the company will now expressly offer other firms' brands to its customers is quite dubious - after all, companies could get embroiled in legal disputes over individual regulations and interpretation of the law, which could then be interpreted by the courts in a very different way. It remains to be seen how the courts in Germany's different states will decide over the next few weeks."
As a taste for other changes to come, Google has also announced that it plans to permit the use of trademarked terms in advertising copy in some cases in the UK. This move is to bring the British and US markets closer into step with each other.