expertSEM

Running into potential trademark infringements is never a comfortable position for an agency or their client.

Bidding on a generic term on broad match and then appearing on search results for a trademarked term can spark some anger from the competitor and angst from a client.

A recent court ruling sheds some light onto the issue and basically ruled that broad matching does not constitute trademark infringement.

Broad Matching Doesn’t Violate Injunction–Rhino Sports v. Sport Court

Scroll down to “Broad Matching Doesn’t Violoate Injunction” about 2/3rds of the way down.

Court observes,

Whether a party appears as a sponsor depends upon a variety of factors, including the frequency with which the search term is used by consumers, the amount paid for and type of sponsorship, and the results of Google’s expanded broad match search. Because these factors may change, a party can appear as a sponsor link one day and not appear the next day, or even appear for terms that were never purchased.

The key to this issue is two fold.

1. If you are on broad match and use the keyword insert funtion, you can get yourself in hot water. If you are bidding on “culinary institute” on broad match and use keyword insert you ad will have “Culinary Institue of America” in the title. This is a brand term and the CIA will not be happy with you, with good reason. Now outside of never using keyword insert it is imperative that you use step 2.

2. Use negative keyword’s for known competitor’s in the space. Your client will be able to provide this list to you and if you add the negative’s you should be in the clear.