“Five clicks you’ll want to pay for” is a great story. I would add that the whole area of trademark protection in search advertising is unclear.
I have always advised clients not to bid on competitor keywords because responses tend to be poor and Google does penalise advertisers that try to advertise against competitor brands.
Google has been enforcing brand protection for the likes of Apple very diligently, although some “black hat” advertisers try to bend the rules by throwing up alternative spellings and subtle variations. Again these tend to be picked up quickly and the advertiser barred.
I thought that Google’s relaxation of its trademark rules was unwise, although the practices across different geographies make one universal rule difficult to create and enforce. Some brands are more relaxed than others – certai
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