Google AdWords, the auction-based program where advertisers bid
on search terms to place text ads alongside search results, has
been the subject of controversy and litigation around the world. In
response, Google, in an attempt to maintain its viable business
model and to assist trade mark owners in protecting their
registered rights from misuse by competitors, has introduced a new
trade mark policy, which came into effect on 4 June 2009. This will
offer varying degrees of assistance to trade mark owners according
to the country in which the trade mark is registered.
Before we get into Google's willingness or unwillingness to
assist trade mark owners as the case may be, we need to define two
terms. These are 'keywords' and 'ad text'. Most of
us have used Google at some stage, when we enter our search term
(keyword) and press the search function a number of sponsored links
appear with a description ('ad text'). Advertisers, in
addition to describing their ads, are
