Tips From the Trademark Insider: Register Your Registered Trademarks with the Major Search Engines.

Have you ever searched your company’s name or one of its trademarks in a major search engine only to see a competitor’s ads come up in the sponsored results? (e.g., A search for Coca Cola brings up a sponsored ad from Pepsi). If so your competitor may be bidding on your company’s name or trademarks as keywords in its pay per click advertising. In doing so they are willfully diverting your customers to their web site. This form of trademark infringement is known as initial interest confusion.

You can take them to court, spend thousands in attorney fees, and maybe win some money in damages at the end of the case. You can also take the far more cost-effective route of registering your registered trademarks with the major search engines so that your competitors cannot bid on your marks as keywords. In fact, if done properly, you can create a situation where only you or your company can bid on your registered marks allowing for instant first-page placement for your company for de minimus pay-per-click costs.

The Trademark Company