search marketing blog: ambergreen

US Civil rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation is supporting Google’s decision to allow advertising on trademarked keywords, seeing the decision as part of first amendment rights and a simple case of freedom of speech.

A federal court is still to rule on whether Google can allow advertisers to use trademarked terms as keywords, as long as they are not mentioned in the actual PPC ads. A court decision is expected soon.

The EFF has argued that the issue concerns more than competition between business rivals, saying that Google’s policy of allowing trademarked names to be bought also protects free speech rights.

At a time when increasing number of internet users are searching for company and product related information, it is understand why the use of trademarked terms can pose a problem for businesses, but shouldn’t it be easy for everyone to find the information they need rather than being shown just what brand owners and businesses wish you to see?

Posted in Google, Paid Search |