Google Trademarks is a clever move
Google has recently made a policy revision regarding trademarks in the UK and Ireland. Previously advertisers were not allowed to appear under keyword search terms for the like of 'nokia' without expressed authorisation from the trademark owner. Now, advertisers will still be restricted to not use trademarked terms in their ad copy without permission.
The reason that Google gave for this change was that:
'They want advertisers to use keywords that are most relevant to their business and our users' interests. Google's goal is to provide our users with the most relevant information, whether it is from our search results or advertisements. A key to achieving this goal with our ads is providing relevant choices and giving users the opportunity to determine which ads they find most relevant'.
There was an interesting law suit between Google and Louis Vuitton which threatens to challenge Google's say over who can or can’t bid on given keywords. The argument from the trademark holders is that web search is an advertising and marketing service for companies, instead of a research service for web users. What's more, Vuitton is also demanding restrictions on the advertising use of its name on all of Google's sites more than 130 around the world. France's highest court ruled in favour of Louis Vuitton. Google appealed, and the case will go to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.
A cynical person may think that Google have made this change to increase the number of advertisers under popular trademarked terms. The more advertisers there are then the more competitive the positions become, which in turn would increase the CPC’s. Looking at this change along with the reduction in the number of ads being served for a given keyword search, which again increases the competition for places, one may be fooled into thinking that Google is getting greedy.
