Trademark Keywords now allowed at Bing & Yahoo

March 3rd Bing and Yahoo changed their advertising policy to allow advertisers to use Trademarked Keywords in their PPC ads.

"As of March 3rd, Microsoft will cease editorial investigations into complaints about trademarks used as keywords to trigger ads on Bing & Yahoo! Search in the United States and Canada. If there is concern that an advertiser may be using a trademark keyword inappropriately, the trademark owner should contact the advertiser directly."

Prior to this change Bing and Yahoo would shut down ads if a complaint was registered by a trademark owner. Now that responsibility has been shifted to the advertiser. This change puts Bing & Yahoo on a more even playing field with Google's AdWords, who has allowed the use of Trademarks since 2004. For more details on the policy change, visit Microsoft Advertising Intellectual Property Guidelines.