Is Your Brand Name Being Used on Google? A Guide to Ads Trademark Complaints

⏱️ Reading time: 9 minutes · 📁 Category: Digital Advertising & Brand Protection

5️⃣ Is Your Brand Name Being Used on Google? A Guide to Ads Trademark Complaints

Competitors may be attracting clicks on Google Ads using your brand name. The good news: with a correctly submitted complaint, these ads can often be stopped or restricted within five minutes. This guide explains Google’s Trademark Complaint mechanism step by step.

🧭 What Counts as Trademark Infringement on Google Ads?

• Use in ad text: A competitor using your registered trademark in a headline or description.
• Misleading use: The brand name combined with wording suggesting “Official” or “Authorised” status.
• Keyword targeting note: In many regions, targeting a brand name as a keyword is not, by itself, considered infringement; use in ad text is the focus.

✅ Google’s main policies: summary

• Verification of trademark ownership: Registration information and/or authorisation documents are required in the complaint.
• Exceptions: Authorised sellers, distributors, repair or accessory providers and informational or nominative use may be permitted under certain conditions.
• Scope & region: Enforcement is country- or region-specific; you can select your desired regions.

📝 Step by step: a Google Ads trademark complaint

1. Record the infringement: Capture the search query, ad link (final URL) and a date/time stamp.
2. Prepare trademark information: Registration number (TÜRKPATENT, WIPO, etc.), owner’s legal name and contact details.
3. Complete the Form: On Google’s Trademark Complaint form, provide the brand name, examples of infringement, country/region and contact person.
4. Authorised advertiser list (optional): Add your agencies or business partners to an authorised list so their ads are not affected.
5. Submit & follow up: After submitting, you receive a Case/Reference ID. Use this ID to submit further evidence or information.

💡 Expert tip: Complete the form with a “general protection” approach. Instead of reporting only one ad, request regional protection against all misuses of the brand and whitelist your authorised sellers. This enables rapid blocking of repeated infringements. 🔍 What should the evidence package contain?

• Screenshot: Show the search query, ad text, time and date.
• URL & ad ID: The ad’s destination URL and, where possible, Ad Preview information.
• Misleading element: Highlight wording such as “Official”, “Genuine” or “Authorised”.
• Authorisation status: Note that the advertiser has no connection with you.

⚖️ Common scenarios & solutions

Scenario	What to Do	Note
Your trademark in a competitor’s ad text	Trademark complaint form + screenshot	Generally restricted quickly
Your authorised dealer advertises using the brand name	Add to the authorised whitelist	Does not fall outside the scope
Brand name on a blog or comparison website	May be nominative use	Limited permission if not misleading
Brand mentioned on a landing page	Generally not a problem	The focus is ad text

📈 KPIs and operational measurement

• Removal Time (RT): Time from submission to restriction (hours/minutes).
• Coverage: Countries, accounts and queries covered by protection.
• Repeat rate: Recurrence of similar infringements: the goal is a decline.

💼 The B10 approach: Trademark Watch + Takedown Engine continuously scans your brand’s search results and ad text. When an infringement is found, an evidence-based file is prepared automatically, the authorised list is protected, and regional protection is managed from a single panel.

Conclusion: Brand protection on Google Ads is fast and sustainable with the right form, evidence and scope. Adding authorised lists and regional management prevents unnecessary blocks and permanently stops genuine infringements.

How do you submit a Google Ads trademark complaint? Let us explain step by step.