Google have announced today that from the 14^th September 2010 they will be changing the way that advertisers in the UK show other companies’ trademarks within their ad-copy. Product resellers will now be able to promote brands they sell within their ppc creative without prior approval from the trademark owners. Google state the following types of sites will be allowed to display trademarks:

“…advertisers include resellers, sellers of component, replacement or compatible parts corresponding to the trademark and informational sites”

The last major change to their trademark policy in the UK was in May 2008 when Google allowed advertisers to bid on trademarked keywords.

This shift in trademark policy mirrors that of the change made in the U.S last year. Opinion was split on this decision, with many resellers happy that they were able to promote the brands that they sell, whilst trademark owners were concerned that this might take traffic away from their official sites and even increase the amount of fakes on sale.

To address these concerns, Google state in their post that:

“…competitive, critical, or negative uses of the trademark in ad text continue to be reviewed and removed per our trademark policy”

Will this be a positive change for e-commerce sites in the UK? If Google can police their new policy properly and keep the unauthorised sites out it should lead to more competition and better choice for the consumer. If not, we may see confusion and lack of trust from buyers and anger from trademark owners.

It’s so far worked in the U.S – but only time will tell for us here in the UK.