'No rule changes' for Google AdWords

4 September 2007

Google is to make no changes to the trademark rules for its AdWords bidding procedure, it has emerged.

A four-year legal battle was this week settled out of court by American Blind & Wallpaper Factory, reports Reuters.

The firm had previously charged Google with trademark abuse by allowing rival companies to bid on paid search terms relating to its name.

But the challenge was dropped this week, according to Reuters, with no payment made to the business and no changes to the AdWords rules.

Michael Kwun, Google's managing counsel for litigation, told the newswire: "From the start, we've said that American Blind & Wallpaper Factory's claims were baseless and that Google's trademark policies are perfectly reasonable and lawful."

Reuters notes that while the policy for bidding on trademarked terms has been successfully defended in the US, it has been defeated in courts in Europe on previous occasions.

Google's guidance on key terms advises marketers that they are responsible for selecting keywords which do not violate "any applicable laws".

Category: Paid search