Google Relaxes Adword Policy In Europe

Following a series of recent judgments by the European Court of Justice on the issue of the use of trade marks in keywords, Google has announced a relaxation of its policy on the purchasing of trade marks in its own Adwords keyword advertising system bringing its European practice much more into line with that which it applies in the United States.

As of the 14^th September 2010, Google will allow the purchase of one trader's trade mark as a keyword to trigger advertisements for a competitor's advertisement across all European countries. Although Google is introducing a new notification and take down procedure for continental European countries this is a significant departure of practice.