Trademark restrictions happen when a brand owner complains to Google about your use of their name in ad copy. Most cases stay at the restriction level and never escalate to a full Google Ads account suspended outcome. Google gives a 7-day warning before any account-level action. The window is real, the appeal pathway works, and many advertisers qualify for carveouts they did not know existed.
Send us the restriction notice. Within 48 hours you get a written verdict: which carveout applies (authorized reseller, descriptive use, informational content), what evidence the appeal needs, and what the realistic outcome is. If the trademark use is genuinely infringing, we tell you on day one.
Free verdict within 48 hours. Most cases qualify for a Google policy carveout. We tell you which one applies before any work starts.
Trademark and Counterfeit Goods get confused often, especially when the disapproval message mentions a brand name. The two policies have very different enforcement and very different fixes.
| Policy | What it covers | Enforcement |
|---|---|---|
| Trademark | Using a brand name, logo, or term in ad copy without authorization | At least 7-day warning before account suspension. Most cases are ad restrictions. |
| Counterfeit Goods | Selling non-authentic products that mimic a brand | Immediate suspension. No prior warning. Classified as egregious. |
Both policies can apply to the same account. An unauthorized seller of fake goods usually hits both. An authorized reseller of genuine products often hits only Trademark.
The policy name appears in your Google Ads notification email and in Policy Manager. Read it before starting any fix.
The Google Ads Trademark policy restricts the use of brand names and logos in ad copy when a trademark owner files a complaint. The policy applies to ad text, not keywords or second-level display URLs. Google issues at least a 7-day warning before account suspension. Authorized resellers, informational sites, and descriptive users qualify for explicit carveouts.
Source: Google Ads Trademarks policy (support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6118)
Google gives at least 7 days before escalating from ad restriction to account suspension. Send us the restriction notice today — free 48-hour verdict tells you exactly which carveout applies before any rewriting starts.
Brand owner complaint accepted. Ads restricted immediately. Account stays open.
Without corrected ads + carveout-cited appeal, Google escalates toward account suspension.
Carveout documented, ads or landing pages updated, Google approves the resubmission.
Trademark enforcement runs slower than the egregious policies. When a brand owner files a complaint and Google restricts the ad, the account stays open for at least 7 days before any suspension risk. That window is the gap between losing a few ads and losing the whole account.
Three things must happen inside the window:
That third point is the one most DIY appellants miss. Google's policy explicitly states that creating new violating ads during an appeal keeps the restriction in place permanently, regardless of changes made later.
Google's trademark policy is narrower than most advertisers assume. The policy applies to specific uses in specific places. Reading the actual rules often shows your case sits inside a carveout already.
A direct competitor cannot use your brand name in their ad copy.
Ad copy that implies affiliation or endorsement when none exists, or that confuses users about who the advertiser is.
You can target a competitor's brand name as a keyword in your campaign. The ad copy itself must not use the trademark, but the keyword targeting is allowed.
A display URL like competitorname.example.com is allowed under the policy.
If your landing page is primarily dedicated to selling the trademarked product (or replacement parts, components, or compatible products), the ad can use the trademark. The page must show commercial information (prices, ordering) and make clear whether you are a reseller or an informational site.
Pages whose primary purpose is to provide information about the trademarked product, or to index search results about it, qualify for the carveout.
Using a word that happens to be trademarked in its ordinary descriptive sense (not as a brand identifier) is allowed.
All five carveouts come directly from Google's published policy text.
Reseller, compatible products, informational content, descriptive use, false complaint — each one has specific evidence Google's reviewers accept. We map your case to the right one before any appeal goes out.
Most trademark appeals that succeed match one of the profiles below. If your case matches, the carveout structure means your appeal has documented Google policy on your side, not just an argument. Swipe through to find yours.
You sell genuine products from the brand under a reseller agreement or open distribution. Your landing page sells the actual product with prices and ordering. The fix involves documenting the reseller relationship, updating the landing page to show clear commercial intent and reseller disclosure, and citing the reseller carveout in the appeal.
Is this your situation?
You sell components, replacement parts, or compatible accessories for the trademarked product (third-party printer cartridges, aftermarket auto parts, phone accessories, generic replacement filters). The landing page clearly sells the compatible product. The fix involves citing the compatible-products carveout, updating product descriptions to clarify aftermarket nature, and removing language that implies brand origin.
Is this your situation?
Your site provides information, reviews, comparisons, or news about the trademarked product. The landing page is primarily informational and either non-commercial or supported by general advertising. The fix involves citing the informational-content carveout and documenting the primary purpose of the landing page.
Is this your situation?
The word in your ad copy happens to be trademarked but you are using it in its ordinary descriptive sense, not as a brand reference. This applies when generic dictionary words have been trademarked by a company. The fix involves citing the descriptive-use carveout and documenting context.
Is this your situation?
A competitor (not the actual trademark owner) filed a complaint to suppress your ads. The fix involves documenting either that the complainant lacks trademark rights in the relevant jurisdiction, or that your use falls within a carveout. Google reviews each complaint against the criteria Google publishes.
Is this your situation?
Google applies trademark restrictions on an ongoing basis to any ad using the same second-level domain in the final URL. A restriction triggered on one account or campaign can carry over to other ads on the same domain. The fix involves either lifting the underlying restriction or restructuring the affected domain mappings.
Is this your situation?Three patterns appear in nearly every rejected DIY appeal we review. Each one is avoidable once you know what Google's reviewer is actually matching against.
Google's reviewer is not weighing trademark law in the abstract. The reviewer is matching your case against Google's published carveout criteria. An appeal that says "this is fair use" carries less weight than an appeal that says "this falls under the reseller carveout, and here is the landing page evidence."
Google's policy explicitly states that new violations during the appeal lock in the restriction regardless of any later changes. Pause all affected ads or rewrite them before submitting the appeal.
An advertiser cites the reseller carveout but the landing page is a generic blog post about the brand with no commercial functionality. Reviewers check the landing page against the appeal's claim. The page and the appeal must agree.
We do not write generic fair-use appeals. Each restricted ad gets mapped to a specific Google carveout with matching landing-page evidence — the structure reviewers actually accept.
Seven steps from restriction notice to ads serving again. Each step has a verifiable output.
We review the restriction notice, the trademark complaint detail (if available), the flagged ads, and the landing pages. We identify which carveout your case fits, what evidence the appeal requires, and whether the appeal has a realistic path. You receive a written verdict.
We map each restricted ad to a specific Google carveout (reseller, compatible products, informational content, descriptive use, or false complaint). Each ad gets its own carveout assignment because Google reviews ads individually, not in bulk.
For reseller cases, we assemble authorization documentation: reseller agreements, distribution contracts, supplier invoices showing genuine product purchase. For informational cases, we document the landing page's primary purpose with traffic data, page structure analysis, and content samples. For descriptive use cases, we document context and dictionary or industry evidence of the ordinary meaning.
We update ad copy and landing pages to match the carveout being claimed. Reseller pages get clear commercial functionality and reseller disclosure. Informational pages get explicit statements of primary purpose. Compatible product pages get clear aftermarket framing.
We submit the appeal through the correct pathway in Policy Manager, citing the specific Google policy section that applies. Each affected ad is addressed individually with its carveout assignment. You approve every appeal before submission.
If Google requests additional documentation or clarification, we handle the response. Trademark cases sometimes involve multiple rounds when the complaint comes from a brand with active enforcement programs.
Once the restriction is lifted, we deliver a written compliance checklist: how to write ad copy that stays inside the carveouts, how to maintain landing page compliance, how to handle future trademark complaints from new brands, and how to avoid the cross-domain restriction problem.
Trademark reviewers do not weigh fair use in the abstract. They match your ad against a carveout — or they leave the restriction in place.
Each restricted ad gets its own carveout assignment, its own evidence package, and its own appeal. That is the structure Google's reviewers accept.
Trademark cases price by complexity. The verdict is always free.
One trademark complaint, one or a few affected ads
Multiple brand complaints, multi-domain operators, cross-account restrictions
Trademark restrictions arise in three categories of business. We can usually help the first two and we decline the third. The free verdict tells you which category your case falls into.
The carveouts Google publishes exist for legitimate business uses. Filing weak appeals on cases that sit outside the carveouts wastes time, exposes the advertiser to escalation toward account suspension, and damages our credibility on the legitimate cases we work.
Send us these four things and we'll have a written verdict in 48 hours:
The closest neighbor. Sellers of fake goods almost always hit both Trademark and Counterfeit. The Counterfeit case is harder and changes the strategy on the Trademark case.
Learn MoreTrademark and Copyright cover different things, but advertisers running content-based businesses often face both at once. The appeal pathways are separate.
Learn MoreTrademark restrictions can escalate to Misrepresentation when the ad copy implies an affiliation that does not exist. Cases involving false authorized reseller claims commonly trigger both policies.
Learn MorePractical, sourced guidance on Google Ads policy enforcement, written by the specialists who handle these cases every week.
Free 48-hour verdict. We tell you which Google carveout your case fits, what documentation the appeal requires, and whether the path forward is realistic. No retainer on cases that cannot win.