Pay-per-Click Search Engine Advertising

Having outlined the legal position in relation to the use of trademarks in pay-per-click advertising, this study investigates trademark use in hotel searches. Using a randomly selected sample of ninety hotel properties worldwide, searches were performed on two leading search engines to investigate whether third parties were using hotel trademarks in their paid placement. Findings indicate that abuse is rampant. While hotels perform well in organic search, they are usually preceded by or surrounded by paid listings abusing their trade names. Customers are potentially being diverted to competing websites, and urgent action is needed to reclaim hotel trademarks in the online search environment.