ebay.com claims trademark on adwords

[hannamyluv]

I suppose this would be more of an affiliate thing but I thought I would post it. It seems that ebay has finally claimed trademark rights on its own name in adwords, which basically kills any affiliate adwords ads on google.

Not much as far as news but interesting since they have let it go for quite some time now.

[jeremy goodrich]

Many well known brands in several verticals have been doing this for the last year or so.

In a vertical I work in a lot, one of the 'major players' pulled the ability of affiliates to use their brand some months back.

After all, why should a business pay a premium to market under the brand they built?

[hannamyluv]

Oh, I'm not saying that they shouldn't have. I'm just surprised it took them this long. Supposedly they have over a million keywords. How come they let exclusivity rights go on the BIG keyword for so long?

[skibum]

You can spot the good ones (affiliate programs that haven't claimed their brand names back) still left when you see sponsorships with "affiliate" in them.

[Shak]

still seems to be running in the UK!

lots of affiliates under the keyword ebay.

Shak

[AthlonInside]

How do they claimed? Did they email Google to remove the search terms or email everyone who us the search term? Or tell their publishers, "You won't get pay if you bid with the word 'ebay'"?

I bid on an advertiser name in adwords and receive an email the very next day. So I removed the bid.

If it really illegal to bid on a trademark?

[hannamyluv]

It's not illegal. They can claim the trademark is all. The google will shut down the adwords on that keywords and all related keywords. Google won't do anything until someone makes an official claim to Google though. Lots of companies let the trademark go. I do. The people on our name aren't direct competitors but when we start our affilate program in a few months, I probably will claim it. It just makes finacial sense. No use paying the piper twice.

[cagey1]

Just hope your affiliates aren't replaced by your competitors' fair use comparison pages (or worse) "you suc*" pages claiming free speech. Just because Google removes ads after you request it, doesn't mean they won't put them back if some lawyer starts puffing out his chest.

Might make those affiliate ads filling up the first eight slots just a bit more attractive.