Have you ever had competitors use your trademarked brand in their Baidu PPC ad? In fact, until you submit the required legal documentation to Baidu, it’s entirely possible for your competitors to use your brand in their ad copies.
So, can you protect your brand on Baidu PPC? The answer is twofold: while you can protect your brand from being used by other competitors in their ad copies, you cannot stop them from bidding on your brand terms.
To stop competitors from using your brand in their ad copies, there are 5 required documents that you must provide to Baidu:
- Business regulation certificate
- Brand term trademark certificate (issued by the trademark office of the national intellectual property administration, PRC; the term(s) should be the same as what is used on your website)
- Trademark authorization letter (if the application is not submitted by the trademark owner)
- Brand protection application form
- Website URL (the brand of your site should be the same as the trademark class)
You can submit the above documents directly to Baidu, or you can work with an agency, which generally speeds up the process.
The documents must be chopped with company stamps and include a handwritten statement: “same as original” to go with the trademark certificate.
The whole process may take up to 1 month.
After Baidu approves your application, brand protection will take effect within 7 business days.
