somebody is stealing my adwords copy

can anything be done?

[sniffer]

good afternoon all

i just performed a search in Google for our "company name + product name" for which we have an adwords campaign.

In the first page of results, i noticed that the ENTIRE COPY of our adwords add appears in the description of another company's search result. When you click on this result, it goes to their page.

i see this as blatantly stealing, since they're using our company name, product name, and the copy of our add (which we are paying for)

can anything be done?

thanks

[TheDave]

I've had more than just the ad copy stolen. As far as I know, nothing can really be done. You can email the site owner and claim trademark ownership, maybe they'll fall for it. Worked once for me (for a phrase, not entire copy) :)

[sniffer]

well, i guess i cannot stop the unethical site from using (stealing) our content, but why is Google rewarding them for doing so?

im stopping all my adds till i hear from them. How long does that usually take? ;)

[TheDave]

Google isn't rewarding them for doing it, it's just a natural result of the search algorithm.

[sniffer]

true, didnt mean literally. just annoying that its possible thats all

[chrisk999]

I asked this question in the past too, and AWA answered at the bottom:

[webmasterworld.com ]

[roitracker]

Your ad copy is protected under international copyright laws, irrespective of trademark & "passing off" issues.

Google is bound by law to remove the offending ad (once notified of the infringement) or they will be liable for breach of copyright too.

Note: I am not a lawyer. Always seek professional legal advice, etc, etc.

[john_k]

If I read sniffer's original post correctly, the copy isn't copied in another ad, it is appearing in the actual search results.

[Shak]

whats to say, what you are seeing in serps is NOT a google partner running adwords/adsense and has been indexed.

very very common ...

Shak

[roitracker]

I see what you mean. Thanks for the clarification.

[sniffer]

well it isnt actually any site content thats being used, its just our ad copy used to trigger a search result, and it doesnt appear in their page. If i replicated another company's advertisement in a magazine and purported to be that company in order to steal their clientele , i'd more than likely get a couple of nasty legal letters (and rightly so). Why should the web be any different?

very very common ...

hopefully not in the future. I dont know how complicated it would be for a SE to stop this behaviour, but since it doesnt appear to be actual real page content maybe its possible? They've been able to accomplish many other good things so far. I dont blame Google for this being possible since they're a third party in the matter, but it could be something to think about perhaps...

[wackybrit]

(Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. This post does not constitute official legal advice. However, I study the law, and have previously had to understand copyright law for my profession.)

Short phrases and slogans cannot generally be 'copyrighted' under US copyright law. The meanings of these terms can be argued case-by-case. This is why phrases and slogans are often trademarked when they need to be protected.

And, IMHO, having a competitor rip off a large print ad, several lines of text, and possibly the layout and a picture is worlds apart from someone jacking several single words from your Google ad. Trademark your phrases, or they're fair game.

[anallawalla]

Yes, an AdWords headline "Guaranteed top placement" (no, I didn't count the no of chars) could be found in dozens of SEO ads, for example. Are they copying someone else's ad? But trademarks and service marks in the copy are open to challenge.

[sniffer]

thanks for your replies

its the fact that they've included our business name, which is also our domain (www.companyname.com), aswell as our copy...

a user seeing our business name in the SERPS would think its our site, or something to so with our business... when its not. I think thats quite different to just borrowing add phrases...

Google wrote that they couldnt do anything about it, which i can see... pretty annoying though