[Rebelgecko]

It makes in theory, but I think that could get really messy in practice. Trademarks aren't universal, they're for a specific domain.

So who can bid on the keyword "Apple"? Does Apple Computer get exclusivity? What about Apple Cosmetics? Apple Travel Agency? Apple Corps? Imagine telling Greg Apple of Apple Plumbing that he can't advertise using his own last name!

Even if you let everyone with a relevant trademark bid on keywords, you're still gonna have problems because so many trademarks are normal words. Should a random orchard that hasn't obtained a trademark containing the word "Apple" be able to place apple ads?

[pmiller2]

Even better, what about "Nissan?" https://nissan.com/

[jtsiskin]

“We also offer Web design, Custom graphics design”.... not the best portfolio for that?

[pmiller2]

Have you seen a Japanese website before?

https://www.infocubic.co.jp/en/blog/website-design/how-japan...

[bdcravens]

Many companies have names that have perfectly valid uses in their business domain as well. For instance, "coinbase", "y combinator", etc.

[Retric]

Simple solution, in case of conflict nobody gets to bid on advertising.

[cromwellian]

Doesn't that lead to a very simple DOS on your competitors? Just register a trademarked entity in another market.

Google Soap. Parler French School. Stripe Flags. Square Foods. etc.

[Retric]

Trademark offices make it hard to register similar trademarks.

However, what you described is not a conflict search “Windows” and you get www.microsoft.com etc, but search “Storm Windows” and no search engine is going to show you www.microsoft.com/... as the top entry.

It is however a reason not to choose single word trademarks.

[RcouF1uZ4gsC]

I don’t think this would be a problem in practice. Google search already does context aware searches. It already differentiates people searching for Apple the iPhone company vs the appples that you eat. It differentiates searches for programming strings vs weaving.

So in practice, I think differentiating the area of trademark is something that could be done.

[mc32]

I think it’s fair to say we only need to consider national and international trademarks.

At least with Ads you need to attribute a competitor's trademark to your competitor.

Matt’s apple orchard may or may not be trademarked. They may be registered in their state, but not likely nationally.

The money is in the big marks. Matt is not going to bid against Apple. Matt might bid against his neighbor on generic terms or on business name. His neighbor may bid on generic terms but not on his business name. That’d be tawdry.