Teletext threatens rivals over trademark bidding

Teletext Holidays has become the first UK travel company to issue a legal threat against any travel company which bids on Google against its trademarked brand name. The move comes at the end of frenetic week in search marketing after Google lifted a ban which restricted companies being able to bid on protected trade marks…

Teletext Holidays has become the first UK travel company to issue a legal threat against any travel company which bids on Google against its trademarked brand name.

The move comes at the end of frenetic week in search marketing after Google lifted a ban which restricted companies being able to bid on protected trade marks via pay-per-click ad slots.

Teletext managing director Matt Cheevers made the announcement late on Friday afternoon, stating that the company had seen its bid costs double – to ensure it remained in top position – in a matter of days as rival travel companies appeared against searches for the word “teletext”.

A number of major travel companies, which had been bidding on “teletext” for most of this week, curtailed their campaigns within hours of the legal threat.

Cheevers said: “Already a number of travel companies have started to piggy-back off our brand name in order to generate more sales for their company.

“We have taken the stance not to bid against any of our competitor brands and we will not tolerate any company that we find to be bidding against our name. Those companies that do not stop this activity instantly will be dealt with by our solicitors.”