The Utah State Legislature has passed a Trademark Protection Act that creates a new type of mark called an electronic registration mark; it probably will not survive a Constitutional test according to the state’s own general counsel.

The issue of using trademarks in keyword advertising has been resolved (at least for now). According to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, “you may use trademarks when buying search ads. Just don’t use the names in actual ads that consumers will see.”

SEW reports that Yahoo is changing its editorial guidelines regarding the use of keywords containing trademarks.

In the world of marketing, branding issues are always an important part of any campaign. Companies work hard for their name to be recognized as a quality organization and a leader in their field.

Concern over trademark protection is growing steadily among online advertisers. Who’s responsibility is it to protect your trademarks? Should the trademark holders be expected to spend ad dollars to buy their own trademarked terms? What kinds of things should/could search engines do to help alleviate the problems?

To compete effectively in global markets, American exporters need trademark protection everywhere they do business. But the European Union is arbitrarily denying U.S. companies the trademark rights they’ve earned, and the time has come for diplomatic intervention.