Competitor ads on your brand name: how to capture the search ad evidence

Why search ads need their own evidence

A customer searches for your brand and the first result is a competitor's ad. Sometimes the ad is fair comparison, sometimes it borrows your name in the headline, sometimes it leads to imitations. Whether it is lawful depends on details that exist only on the results page at a given moment: the ad text, the label, the link and the page behind it.

Search ads are among the most short-lived things on the internet. They rotate between users, change by country and time of day, and the advertiser can edit or pause them within minutes of receiving a letter. If you do not capture them first, the strongest part of your case can disappear before anyone looks at it.

What EU trademark law actually looks at

In Google France (C-236/08 to C-238/08, 2010) the Court of Justice held that an advertiser who selects a keyword identical to a trademark uses that sign in the course of trade. The owner can object when the ad does not enable normally informed and reasonably attentive internet users, or enables them only with difficulty, to tell whether the goods come from the trademark owner or from a third party. The search engine itself does not use the mark in this sense.

Interflora (C-323/09, 2011) added that for marks with a reputation, an ad offering mere imitations or causing dilution can be unfair, while an ad that offers a genuine alternative is, as a rule, fair competition. So the evidence has to show the whole picture, not just that an ad appeared.

• Which search query triggered the ad (your mark, alone or with other words).
• The exact ad text, headline, display URL, extensions and the Sponsored label.
• Whether the ad suggests a link to your brand or makes its own origin clear.
• What the landing page offers: an alternative, a comparison, or imitations of your goods.

Bidding on a competitor's mark is therefore not unlawful as such in the EU. National trademark and unfair competition rules apply on top, and your lawyer will choose the basis. Your job is to give them facts that can be dated and checked.

Why a screenshot of the results page is weak

A phone screenshot is better than nothing, but the other side will attack it on predictable points:

• Search results are personalised and localised, so a single image does not show what users in your market saw.
• Ads rotate and follow schedules, so the advertiser can say the ad ran once, briefly or by mistake.
• The date comes from your own device and the image can be edited without trace.
• A screenshot shows the ad but not the page behind it, the domain, or who stands behind the campaign.

Step 1: set up a clean, documented search

Before you search, decide what you need to prove and write the setup down, so it can be repeated by someone else:

• The country and language version of the search engine that matches the market where your mark is protected.
• A browser that is logged out of personal accounts, so results are not shaped by your history.
• Desktop or mobile, because ad formats differ and the dispute may concern one of them.
• The exact queries: your mark alone, your mark plus product words, common misspellings.
• The date, time and time zone of each search.

Step 2: capture the results page and the landing page together

Capture the full results page with the ad in context, then follow the ad to its landing page and capture that too. Treat it as one sequence, not separate images:

• The results page with the query visible in the search box and the ad with its Sponsored label.
• Any disclosure the search engine shows about the advertiser, such as an About this ad panel.
• The landing page, including the final URL after redirects, prices, product names and any use of your mark.
• The site's imprint or legal notice page, which identifies the business behind the domain.
• Technical context: page source, network log, DNS and TLS certificate of the landing domain.

Each capture should be sealed with a trusted time and a hash, so that any later change to the files is detectable and the date does not depend on your own computer clock.

Step 3: add the advertiser's identity from the ad repository

Under Article 39 of the Digital Services Act, very large online platforms and very large search engines must keep a public, searchable repository of the ads they show, including the ad content, the person on whose behalf it was presented and the period it ran, until one year after the ad was last shown. For Google this is the Ads Transparency Center.

Look up the advertiser there and capture the entry. It helps attribute the campaign and its duration. It does not replace your own captures: the repository does not show which query triggered the ad or where it appeared on the page, and entries can drop out after a year.

Step 4: repeat captures to show duration and scale

One capture shows that an ad existed. A series shows a practice. Plan short, consistent repeats:

• Capture again on several days and at different times, using the same documented setup.
• Capture every variant of the ad text you see, because the advertiser may test several.
• Capture again after you report the ad or send a letter, to show whether it stopped or continued.

Step 5: report and write only after capturing

Google's trademark policy does not restrict trademarks used as keywords. It may restrict a trademark in the ad text, for example when a direct competitor uses it or the use is misleading, and complaints are filed through Google's Report Content form against specific advertisers. A complaint may lead to the ad being edited, which is good for you only if you already have the original.

The same applies to a cease-and-desist letter. Send it after your captures are sealed, set a deadline, and capture again when the deadline passes. That later capture is often what proves continued use.

What to hand your lawyer

• Your registration certificates and the territories where the mark is protected.
• A short chronology: when you first noticed the ad, when you captured it, when you reported it.
• The sealed captures of the results pages, landing pages and imprint pages, with the documented setup.
• The ad repository entries for the advertiser.
• Copies of your complaint to the search engine and any reply.
• Any evidence of confusion: customer emails, misdirected orders, reviews that mention the wrong company.

How GetProofAnchor fits

Forensic Browser is a Windows desktop app built for this kind of sequence. You search, open the ad, follow it to the landing page and the imprint, and the whole session goes into one sealed package with full-page screenshots, HTML, HAR, DNS and the TLS chain, plus optional session video. You get a PDF with an embedded qualified timestamp that validates in Adobe Acrobat Reader, or a ZIP for experts. Licences start at 290 EUR per year excluding VAT (350.90 EUR including 21 % VAT).

If you need it done for you, Assisted Capture captures the URLs you send, such as the search URL, the landing page and the repository entry. The Evidence Pack covers up to 5 URLs for 149 EUR (180.29 EUR incl. VAT) within 3 hours; Rush covers up to 5 URLs with a 60-minute guarantee for 249 EUR (301.29 EUR incl. VAT).

For landing pages and competitor websites you want to capture from time to time, the web app captures a public URL on our servers from 9 EUR for 3 proofs (10.89 EUR incl. VAT).

Every package carries an eIDAS qualified electronic timestamp from an EU qualified trust service provider. Under Article 41(2) of eIDAS it enjoys a presumption of the accuracy of its date and time and of the integrity of the timestamped data, and Article 41(3) requires recognition in all member states. It proves when the content was captured and that the files were not changed; whether the ad infringes is for your lawyer and the court.

FAQ

Sources

• CJEU, Google France and Google, C-236/08 to C-238/08, judgment of 23 March 2010
• CJEU, Interflora and Interflora British Unit, C-323/09, judgment of 22 September 2011
• Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 on the European Union trade mark, Article 9
• Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act), Article 39
• Directive 2004/48/EC on the enforcement of intellectual property rights, Articles 6 and 7
• Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 (eIDAS), Article 41
• Google Ads policy: Trademarks
• Google Ads Transparency Center