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By Jo Best, 4 March 2005 17:15

NEWS Three of the UK's major travel firms have banned retailers that sell their holidays from using their trademarks on Google.

First Choice, Thomas Cook and Thomson have all banned travel agents from using their brand names in Google's keywords search.

When searches are conducted using any of the travel operators' brands and trademarks, Google will bring up searches related to the travel firms themselves and agencies that sell their products.

Before the ban, travel agents were able to include the operators' names in their keyword search text, bumping them up Google rankings when would-be holidaymakers used the search engine to find potential getaways.

According to Thomas Cook, the move is part of "taking steps to protect all its trademarks on the internet".

Thomson, however, said only those without agreements in place with the travel operator would be unable to use the brand. "We do have a deal with Google, like many other big brands. Google have tightened up on this recently and we feel that we should protect our brand as 'pay for' listings are becoming an increasingly important marketing tool."

That means any third party agents who have a commercial agreement with Thomson can still use the name as part of their online promotional activity.

"We have not changed any part of our commercial agreements in this area and we are more than happy for our commercial partners to use Thomson as part of their online marketing," the company said.

Joel Barry, partner with legal firm Olswang, said that the question of search engines' responsibility in instances where keywords infringe trademarks had yet to be determined in the UK courts.

A recent case in France saw Google losing out in a case over the use of a hotel chain's trademark by rivals.

"There's a division between a nice, ordinary innocent reseller and a competitor [using trademarks as search key words]. One is acceptable, one clearly is not. The problem for Google is how to do you monitor which is which? When people are bidding for ad words, how are they supposed to check you are legitimate? Search engines have difference policies, some will let anyone bid on any one, some won't."

A Google spokeswoman said it is Google's policy in the UK to allow trademarks to be used as search keywords "unless the trademark owner objects". She added that the search giant will perform a "limited investigation" when a trademark owner believes their trademarks are being used by another company.