New! Helps Advertisers Identify Improper Use of Trademarks in Search Advertising

Trademark infringement in Pay Per Click is a growing and highly-visible problem on content networks and major search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN. Perpetrators commonly register domains containing well-known brand names and then display ads on them that generate traffic and PPC ad revenue. Trademark infringers often register domain names that contain a brand reference, or common misspellings of brand names (also called "typosquatting").  Consumers see the results when mistyping a web site URL only to find themselves on a different web site with lots of ads and pop-ups.

The Trademark Use report, a standard feature of the Click Forensics for Advertisers™ solution, allows brands to identify and track organizations and individuals improperly using trademarked names for search marketing campaigns. The new feature produces updated reports on potential trademark abusers who use well-known brand names to generate Pay Per Click (PPC) traffic. Companies can use the new solution to more quickly take action to protect intellectual property and their own search marketing investments.

The Trademark Use report works by identifying registered domains using trademarked names.  The report contains the number of paid clicks originating from these domains, in addition to traffic quality information regarding those clicks.  In this way, advertisers can prioritize which sites to target for corrective action.