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Editor: Matt Paines

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Brands slam Google trademark bidding

Leading brands are up in arms over Google's revised AdWords policy, which allows companies to bid on their rivals' trademarked terms.Google's new rules, which it claims will improve the user experience, will give competitors the opportunity to pay for listing in the sponsored results for a search on their rivals' brand or company name.
 
Tesco was one of the first to speak out, taking a stand against the search giant by vowing not to bid on search terms previously exclusive to its competitors.
 
Several leading UK brands- including lastminute.com, Eurostar, ABTA, and moneysupermarket.com- have quickly followed suit.
 
But supermarket chain Asda has sparked controversy by taking a swipe at Tesco's decision to take the moral high ground.
 
Marketing director at Asda, Rick Bendel, said that Tesco believed everything was for sale, except when it didn't suit it.
 
And the Wal-Mart owned supermarket is not ruling out placing bids on its competitors' keywords.
 
Price-comparison site, moneysupermarket.com, is urging UK insurance companies not to bid on keywords relating to its suite of brands, which also include travelsupermarket.com and insuresupermarket.com.
 
Lastminute.com chief exec, Ian McCaig, said that the company was considering legal action against Google.
 
He said it was ironic that Google, which was always quick to defend its own trademark, would make such a move.

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