Objective: Understand Google's trademark policy and complaint procedures.

Trademarks owned by Google are not allowed in ad text. Currently, these include Google, Froogle, Gmail, Orkut, Keyhole and PageRank.

A trademark is a word, phrase, logo or symbol that identifies and distinguishes a product or service from others in the marketplace. Multiple trademark owners may claim the right to the same term, as long as each owner operates in a different industry. Trademark ownership is location-based, and therefore must be obtained on a country-by-country basis.

With Google AdWords, advertisers may select trademarked terms as keywords or use them in the content of the ad. As a provider of space for advertisements, Google is not in a position to arbitrate trademark disputes between advertisers and trademark owners. As stated in our Terms and Conditions, advertisers are responsible for the keywords and ad text that they choose to use. Accordingly, Google encourages trademark owners to resolve their disputes directly with the advertiser, particularly because the advertiser may have similar ads on other sites. However, as a courtesy to trademark owners, Google is willing to perform a limited investigation of reasonable complaints.

Google requires certain information from trademark owners wishing to file an official trademark complaint. The required information varies, depending on the country(s) in which an owner's trademark rights exist. For a detailed list of the required information, visit Google's Trademark Complaint Procedure page: http://www.google.co.uk/tm_complaint.html

Once Google receives all the required information from the trademark owner, the claim will be investigated and appropriate action will be taken. Advertisers may be restricted from using certain trademarks as ad text per the request of the trademark owner. In cases where the trademark owner claims rights to a term in countries outside the US, UK, Ireland and Canada, advertisers might not be allowed to use certain trademarks as keywords or as ad text per the request of the trademark owner.

When Google receives a complaint from a trademark owner claiming rights in the US, Canada, UK and/or Ireland, Google will only investigate whether the advertisements at issue are using the trademarked term in the ad text. Google will not disable keywords in response to a trademark complaint.

When Google receives a complaint from a trademark owner claiming rights in countries outside the US, UK, Ireland and Canada, Google will investigate whether the advertisements at issue are using the trademarked term in the ad content or as a keyword.

Trademark complaints should be posted to the following address: