Trademark Complaint Procedures for AdWords and AdSense:
Google recognizes the importance of trademarks. Our AdWords Terms and Conditions with advertisers prohibit intellectual property infringement by advertisers. Advertisers are responsible for the keywords they choose to generate advertisements and the text that they choose to use in those advertisements.
Google takes allegations of trademark infringement very seriously and, as a courtesy, we investigate matters raised by trademark owners. Trademarks are territorial and apply only to certain goods or services. Therefore, different parties can own the same mark in different countries or different industries. Accordingly, in processing complaints, Google will ask the trademark owner for information regarding where the mark is valid and for what goods or services. Please note the following about our complaint process:
- The trademark owner doesn't need to be a Google AdWords advertiser in order to send a complaint.
- Any such investigation will only affect ads served on or by Google.
- Google's trademark policy does not apply to search results. Our investigations only apply to sponsored links. For trademark concerns about websites that appear in Google search results, the trademark owner should contact the site owner directly.
- In the case of an AdSense for Domains trademark complaint, an investigation will affect only the participation of the domain name in question in our AdSense for Domains program.
- Because Google is not a third-party arbiter, we encourage trademark owners to resolve their disputes directly with the advertisers, particularly because the advertisers may have similar ads running via other advertising programs.
AdWords Trademark Policies
Below, you can find information on our trademark complaint procedure across different regions as well as on our advertiser authorization procedure.
Trademark Complaint Procedure:
Regions in which we monitor ad text only
We can investigate the use of trademarks in ad text in the regions listed below.
Regions
| Afghanistan |
| Albania |
| Algeria |
| American Samoa |
| Andorra |
| Angola |
| Anguilla |
| Antarctica |
| Antigua and Barbuda |
| Argentina |
| Armenia |
| Aruba |
| Azerbaijan |
| The Bahamas |
| Bahrain |
| Baker Island |
| Bangladesh |
| Barbados |
| Belarus |
| Belize |
| Benin |
| Bermuda |
| Bhutan |
| Bolivia |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Botswana |
| British Indian Ocean Territory |
| British Virgin Islands |
| Brunei |
| Burkina Faso |
| Burundi |
| Cambodia |
|
| Cameroon |
| Canada |
| Cape Verde |
| Cayman Islands |
| Central African Republic |
| Chad |
| Chile |
| Colombia |
| Comoros |
| Congo |
| Cook Islands |
| Costa Rica |
| Côte d'Ivoire |
| Croatia |
| Cuba |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| Djibouti |
| Dominica |
| Dominican Republic |
| Ecuador |
| Egypt |
| El Salvador |
| Equatorial Guinea |
| Eritrea |
| Ethiopia |
| Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) |
| Faroe Islands |
| Fiji |
| Gabon |
| The Gambia |
| Gaza Strip |
| Georgia |
|
| Ghana |
| Greenland |
| Grenada |
| Guam |
| Guatemala |
| Guinea |
| Guinea-Bissau |
| Guyana |
| Haiti |
| Holy See (Vatican City) |
| Honduras |
| Howland Island |
| India |
| Indonesia |
| Iran |
| Iraq |
| Ireland |
| Israel |
| Jamaica |
| Japan |
| Jarvis Island |
| Johnston Atoll |
| Jordan |
| Kazakhstan |
| Kenya |
| Kingman Reef |
| Kiribati |
| Kuwait |
| Kyrgyzstan |
| Laos |
| Lebanon |
| Lesotho |
|
| Liberia |
| Libya |
| Macedonia (FYROM) |
| Madagascar |
| Malawi |
| Malaysia |
| Maldives |
| Mali |
| Marshall Islands |
| Mauritania |
| Mauritius |
| Mexico |
| Micronesia |
| Midway Islands |
| Moldova |
| Mongolia |
Montenegro
|
| Montserrat |
| Morocco |
| Mozambique |
| Myanmar (Burma) |
| Namibia |
| Nauru |
| Nepal |
| Netherlands Antilles |
| Nicaragua |
| Niger |
| Nigeria |
| Niue |
| Northern Mariana Islands |
| Oman |
| Pakistan |
| Palau |
|
| Palmyra Atoll |
| Panama |
| Papua New Guinea |
| Paraguay |
| Peru |
| Philippines |
| Pitcairn Islands |
| Puerto Rico |
| Qatar |
| Russia |
| Rwanda |
| Saint Helena |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis |
| Saint Lucia |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
| Samoa |
| San Marino |
| São Tomé and Príncipe |
| Saudi Arabia |
| Senegal |
| Serbia |
| Seychelles |
| Sierra Leone |
| Singapore |
| Solomon Islands |
| Somalia |
| South Africa |
| South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands |
| Sri Lanka |
| Sudan |
| Suriname |
|
| Swaziland |
| Syria |
| Tajikistan |
| Tanzania |
| Thailand |
| Timor-Leste |
| Togo |
| Tokelau |
| Tonga |
| Trinidad and Tobago |
| Tunisia |
| Turkey |
| Turkmenistan |
| Turks and Caicos Islands |
| Tuvalu |
| Uganda |
| Ukraine |
| United Arab Emirates |
| United Kingdom |
| United States |
| Uruguay |
| Uzbekistan |
| Vanuatu |
| Venezuela |
| Vietnam |
| Virgin Islands |
| Wake Island |
| West Bank |
| Western Sahara |
| Yemen |
| Zambia |
| Zimbabwe |
| |
|
Complaint Procedure
When we receive a complaint from a trademark owner for a region listed above, we only investigate the use of the trademark in ad text. We will not disable keywords in response to a trademark complaint. Furthermore, our investigation will only affect ads served on or by Google.
In the U.S., we allow some ads to show with a trademark in ad text if the ad is from a reseller or from an informational site. However, if our investigation finds that the advertiser is using the trademark in the ad text in a manner which is competitive, critical, or negative, we will require the advertiser to remove the trademark and prevent them from using it in similar ad text in the future. Learn more about our U.S. trademark policy.
Outside the U.S., if our investigation finds that the advertiser is using the trademark in ad text, we will require the advertiser to remove the trademark and prevent them from using it in ad text in the future.
Google is dedicated to providing relevant advertising to our users, advertisers, and publishers alike. Accordingly, our trademark policy not to monitor the use of trademarks as keywords in the regions listed above aims to provide users with choices relevant to their keywords. At the same time, we investigate trademark violations in ad text, both as a courtesy to the trademark owner and to ensure that ads are clear to users.
Trademark owners may submit either a specific or general trademark complaint. A specific complaint means that we will investigate a trademark term(s) in specific advertisements only. The trademark owner is required to provide the exact URLs in question and we will not investigate the trademark in any other advertisements. A general complaint means that we will investigate the trademark in all relevant advertisements. The trademark owner does not need to provide the specific URLs in question. However, if there are specific advertisers that are authorized to use the trademark(s), the trademark owner is required to provide the corresponding customer ID(s) or login email(s).
If you have concerns about the use of your trademark in AdWords ads showing in a region listed above, file a trademark complaint
. If your complaint concerns use of your trademark in multiple regions, please send us one complaint with ownership information for your trademark in those regions. We will follow the appropriate procedure for each region submitted in your complaint.
- To submit your complaint via mail or fax, please complete the following steps:
- Fill in all required fields on our online complaint form.
- When finished, select the Submit button.
- Print the email confirmation and send it to one of the following addresses:
Google Inc.
Attn: Advertising Legal Support Team
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
Or via fax to: 650-649-1774
Attn: Google Trademark Complaints
Or via email to ads-trademarks@google.com
Regions in which we monitor both ad text and keywords
We can investigate the use of trademarks in ad text, in keywords, or in both ad text and keywords in the regions listed below.
Regions
| Åland
|
| Ashmore and Cartier Islands |
| Australia |
| Austria |
| Bassas da India |
| Belgium |
| Bouvet Island |
| Brazil |
| Bulgaria |
| China |
| Christmas Island |
| Clipperton Island |
| Cocos (Keeling) Islands |
|
| Coral Sea Islands |
| Cyprus |
| Czech Republic |
| Denmark |
| Estonia |
| Europa Island |
| Finland |
| France |
| French Guiana |
| French Polynesia |
| French Southern and Antarctic Lands |
| Germany |
| Gibraltar |
| Greece |
|
| Guadeloupe |
| Guernsey |
| Heard Island and McDonald Islands |
| Hong Kong |
| Hungary |
| Iceland |
| Isle of Man |
| Italy |
| Jan Mayen |
| Jersey |
| Latvia |
| Liechtenstein |
| Lithuania |
| Luxembourg |
|
| Macau |
| Malta |
| Martinique |
| Mayotte |
| Monaco |
| Netherlands |
| New Caledonia |
| New Zealand |
| Norfolk Island |
| North Korea |
| Norway |
| Poland |
| Portugal |
| Reunion |
| Romania |
|
| Saint Martin |
| Saint Pierre and Miquelon |
| Slovakia |
| Slovenia |
| South Korea |
| Spain |
| Svalbard |
| Sweden |
| Switzerland |
| Taiwan |
| Tromelin Island |
| Wallis and Futuna |
| |
| |
|
Complaint Procedure
When we receive a complaint from a trademark owner, our review is limited to ensuring that the advertisements at issue are not using a term corresponding to the trademarked term in the ad text or as a keyword. If they are, we will require the advertiser to remove the trademarked term from the ad text or keyword list and will prevent the advertiser from using the trademarked term in the future. Any such investigation will only affect ads served on or by Google.
We do not take any action in situations where an advertisement is being triggered by non-trademarked terms even though the search query contains a trademarked term. This occurrence stems from the fact that Google allows advertisers to use a broad matching system to target their ads.
For example, if an advertiser has selected the keyword "shoes," that advertiser's ad will appear when a user enters the word "shoes" as a search query, regardless of other search terms that may be used. So, the ad would show if the user entered any of the following search queries: "tennis shoes," "red shoes," or "Nike shoes." This system eliminates the need for the advertiser to specify each of the myriad different search query combinations that are relevant to their ad.
Trademark owners may submit either a specific or general trademark complaint. A specific complaint means that we will investigate a trademark term(s) in specific advertisements only. The trademark owner is required to provide the exact URLs in question and we will not investigate the trademark in any other advertisements. A general complaint means that we will investigate the trademark in all relevant advertisements. The trademark owner does not need to provide the specific URLs in question. However, if there are specific advertisers that are authorized to use the trademark(s), the trademark owner is required to provide the corresponding customer ID(s) or login email(s).
If you have concerns about the use of your trademark in AdWords ads or keywords showing in a region listed above, file a trademark complaint. If your complaint concerns use of your trademark in multiple regions, please send us one complaint with ownership information for your trademark in these regions. We'll follow the appropriate procedure for each region submitted in your complaint.
- To submit your complaint via mail or fax, please complete the following steps:
- Fill in all required fields on our online complaint form.
- When finished, select the Submit button.
- Print the email confirmation and send it to one of the following addresses:
Google Inc.
Attn: Advertising Legal Support Team
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
Or via fax to: 650-649-1774
Attn: Google Trademark Complaints
Or via email to ads-trademarks@google.com
Trademark Authorization Procedure:
Authorization to Use Trademarks in Your Ad Campaign
If we have processed a complaint for a trademark, advertisers using the mark in the regions and industry of the trademark owner will have their keywords and/or ad text disapproved according to the processes outlined above.
If an advertiser has been restricted from using a trademark and disagrees with the owner's assertion of exclusive rights or believes he has a right to use the mark, we encourage the advertiser to contact the trademark owner directly and request permission to use the trademark. Only if the trademark owner (or contact person listed on the trademark complaint) provides Google with an authorization will the advertiser be able to use the trademark in his ad campaign. Please note that the trademark owner may change or rescind the authorization at any time. As such, please review the below criteria to determine whether you are eligible to submit an authorization request form.
- We only accept authorization requests directly from the trademark owner or from the contact person listed on the trademark complaint. We are not able to accept requests from regional branches or subsidiaries of the trademark owner, unless they are the contact person listed on the trademark complaint form or previously authorized by the trademark owner.
- We only accept non-conditional authorization requests. Therefore, please do not include conditions for which the trademark may only be used, such as time period or type of ad content. We are only able to prohibit or allow all use of a particular term by an advertiser. Trademark owners may revoke the authorization at any time.
- Please do not use this form unless you are the trademark owner or the contact person listed on the trademark complaint. Trademark owners may also use this form to authorize their own accounts.
If you agree with the statements above, please file a trademark authorization request online.
- To submit your complaint via mail or fax, please complete the following steps:
- Fill in all required fields on our online authorization form.
- When finished, select the Submit button.
- Print the email confirmation and send it to one of the following addresses:
Google Inc.
Attn: Advertising Legal Support Team
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
Or via fax to: 650-649-1774
Attn: Google Trademark Complaints
Or via email to ads-trademarks@google.com
Counterfeit Goods Complaint
Google AdWords prohibits the sale or promotion of counterfeit goods. Counterfeit goods contain a trademark or logo that is identical with or substantially indistinguishable from the trademark of another. Counterfeiters attempt to deceive consumers into believing the counterfeit is a genuine product of the brand owner, or sell their goods as faux, replicas or imitations of the original product. Counterfeit goods differ from standard trademark infringement in that counterfeiters attempt to pass off their goods as the originals, instead of merely using a similar mark in a confusing manner. Counterfeit goods differ from pirated products or copyright infringement because it is the trademark that is copied, rather than software, books, artwork, etc.
We will investigate all reasonable complaints; our actions may include disapproving or disabling ads and/or terminating advertisers. Any such investigation and action will only affect ads served on or by Google.
Please note that, upon request and approval, a complainant's contact details may be forwarded to the affected advertiser(s).
If you have concerns about the sale of counterfeit goods in AdWords ads, please file a complaint. Note: This form is only available in English.
Learn more about the Google AdWords Copyright policy.
Google provides an ad serving program via our AdSense for Domains service, wherein domain registrars can display ads on their inactive domains. If you have concerns about the use of your trademark as a parked domain name, file an AdSense for Domains trademark complaint.
Once Google receives all of the required information from the trademark owner, the claim will be investigated, and appropriate action will be taken.
