Google trademark rules change, pushing burden back to brand owner

The latest change to Google’s editorial policy on trademarks is guaranteed to raise a few challenges. Their decision to allow advertisers to use trademarked name in search ads (even when they don’t own the mark) will have retailers bidding against manufacturers for the same name. It’s a logical move for Google, and one that moves the burden of trademark protection back to the brands themselves. This should be a private issue between manufacturers and retailers, but so many have come to rely on Google to make up for the short comings in their own license agreements that it’s bound to cause a storm of bidding wars.