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Trademark Attorney Assistance Regarding AdWords and Infringements
Google AdWords provides a means for advertisers and website owners to attract visitors to their sites through small text or image based ads displayed on top and at the right side of organic search results.
This is also, however, an area of many trademark disputes and one area in which you will require the expertise of a trademark attorney if you want to avoid lawsuits.
Although Google and other search engines provide the platform for advertising they don’t prevent competitors from using one another’s trademark as a keyword in their AdWords campaigns.
The problem with such is that a visitor may click on the advert thinking that it would be about a specific brand and then land up on a competitor site. This action thus draws the potential customer away from the website of the trademark holder.
If you find that a competitor uses your company name or trademark as part of their keyword campaign you need to consult with an experienced trademark attorney as to what to do next.
Although it may not be a deliberate attempt to get a user to come to a site when writing about a competitor brand, it does constitute an infringement of rights when deliberately confusing visitors through an ad campaign, using the trademark of the competitor.
The visitor landing at the competitor page may decide to purchase from the competitor simply because of the hassle of having to find the correct page.
Although it can be said that it could just as well be the other way around and the user could have landed on the other party’s site with a competitor trademark, the fact stays that confusion is caused. Before taking steps get in contact with a trademark attorney for legal advice.
There is still heavy debating around the issue, but if you have lost income and clients because a competitor has used your trademark in an AdWords campaign, get in contact with a trademark attorney from Smit & Van Wyk for advice.
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