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How Does the Use of Trademarks by Third-Party Sellers Affect Online Search?. Lesley Chiou and Catherine Tucker. When searching for the trademark doubletree on Google. Search engines have turned trademarking policy upside down.
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How Does the Use of Trademarks by Third-Party SellersAffect Online Search? Lesley Chiou and Catherine Tucker
Search engines have turned trademarking policy upside down. • Resellers of branded products often want to match and personalize their ads to someone's search by using a trademarked brand name. • Brand name trademark holders’ lawyers do not like this. • We study empirically whether they should
Study Policy Change on Google • Google changed its policy in June 2009 for search advertising • Allowed resellers of goods to use other firms's trademarks in the ad copy • Other search engines did not change their policies and act as control group
What we find • When resellers were allowed to use trademark in their ads • Decrease in paid search clicks for trademark holder's ad • Increase in people clicking on the trademark holder's main (non-paid) listing • Advertising clutter literature can explain this • When all ads look alike customer tend to ignore them
Managerial Insights • Trademark policy online should not just be governed by traditional legal issues but also marketing considerations • When others feature a firm’s trademark in their ads, that this can benefit their trademark holder • Therefore firms should consider benefits of loosening their trademark policies online