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Brand bidding cease and desist letter template

Three ready-to-send letters for when someone runs Google ads on your brand name: a friendly first request, a firm cease and desist, and a version for your own affiliates. Copy one, fill in the brackets, attach your evidence.

These templates are general information, not legal advice. For anything beyond a first request, or if you're unsure about your rights, talk to a trademark lawyer.

Before you send anything

1. Collect evidence. Dated screenshots of the results page, the exact ad text, the advertiser's domain, the search, city and device, and how often you saw it. Several sightings on different days are much stronger than one.
2. Check what they're actually doing. Is your brand in their headline, description or web address, or are they only showing up on your brand search with an ad about themselves? The first is easier to stop. See is it legal to bid on a competitor's brand?
3. Check who they are. Look the domain up in the Google Ads Transparency Center for the verified company name. Make sure they're not one of your own resellers, agents or affiliates; if they are, use template 3.
4. Have your trademark details ready: owner name, registration number and office (for example, USPTO). Only claim a registered trademark if you have one.

Template 1: Friendly first request

Start here. Most advertisers, especially smaller ones, stop when asked politely, and it costs you nothing.

Subject: Your Google ads using "[Brand]"

Hi [Company / team],

We noticed your Google Ads are showing on searches for our brand, [Brand], and use our name in [your ad text / the web address shown in your ads]. For example:

  Headline: "[Their headline]"
  Description: "[Their description]"
  Shown as: [their-domain.com]

We've seen this ad [number] times between [first date] and [last date], in [cities].

[Brand] is a registered trademark of [Your company] (Reg. No. [number], [office]). Could you please remove "[Brand]" from your ads and add it as a negative keyword in your campaigns, so your ads stop showing on searches for our name?

We'd appreciate a confirmation within 7 days. Dated screenshots are attached.

Thank you,
[Your name]
[Title], [Your company]
[Email] · [Phone]

Template 2: Firm cease and desist

Send this if the friendly request is ignored after a week, or straight away if the ad is clearly misleading (for example, it claims to be your official site or shows a phone number that isn't yours).

Subject: Unauthorized use of the "[Brand]" trademark in your Google Ads

To whom it may concern at [Company],

[Your company] owns the [Brand] trademark (Reg. No. [number], [office]). Our monitoring has recorded your Google Ads using [Brand] [in the ad headline / description / display URL] [number] times between [first date] and [last date], in [cities]. For example:

  Headline: "[Their headline]"
  Description: "[Their description]"
  Shown as: [their-domain.com]

This use is not authorized and is likely to confuse people searching for [Brand]. Within 7 days of this letter, please:

1. Remove "[Brand]" and confusingly similar terms from all ad headlines, descriptions and display URLs.
2. Add "[Brand]" and its variations as negative keywords in all your search campaigns.
3. Confirm in writing that you have done so.

We have kept dated screenshots of each ad. If the ads continue, we will file a trademark complaint with Google and consider further steps to protect our rights.

[Your name]
[Title], on behalf of [Your company]
[Email] · [Phone]

"Consider further steps" is deliberately measured. Don't threaten a lawsuit you don't intend to bring, and don't overstate your rights; it weakens your position if the matter escalates.

Template 3: Affiliate or partner

When the advertiser is in your affiliate program, or is a reseller, agent or franchisee, your agreement is usually the fastest lever. Check your terms first: they should ban bidding on your brand.

Subject: Brand bidding on "[Brand]" breaks our [affiliate / partner] terms

Hi [Name],

Your Google Ads are bidding on our brand name, [Brand], and sending that traffic to us through our [affiliate program / partner link] [tracking ID if known]. Our program terms (section [x]) don't allow partners to bid on our brand name or use it in ads.

Example ad, seen [number] times between [first date] and [last date]:

  Headline: "[Their headline]"
  Shown as: [their-domain.com]

Please pause these ads and add "[Brand]" and its misspellings as negative keywords within 48 hours, and reply to confirm. Commissions earned from this traffic may be reversed, and continued brand bidding will lead to removal from the program.

Thanks,
[Your name]
[Affiliate / partner manager], [Your company]

If you don't know which affiliate it is, send the evidence to your affiliate network: they can match the tracking code in the ad's link to the partner.

Who to send it to

• The company behind the ad. Use the Google Ads Transparency Center to find the verified advertiser name; it's often different from the website's name.
• Their contact details: the contact page, legal or privacy pages (they often list a legal email), and addresses like legal@ or info@ their domain.
• Affiliates: through your affiliate network or program manager, who knows the partner's identity.
• For a firm letter, send it by email and keep a copy with the date. Lawyers often also send formal letters by post to the company's registered address.

If they ignore you

1. File a Google trademark complaint if they use your name in the ad text. Google acts on complaints against named advertisers. See the step-by-step complaint guide.
2. Defend your top spot with your own brand campaign, so you appear first whatever they do.
3. Talk to a trademark lawyer if the ads keep misleading customers. Your saved evidence is what they'll ask for first.
4. Keep watching. Bidders come back after a few weeks or under a new domain. See how to stop competitors bidding on your brand.

StopBrandBidding.com does the watching for you, and for every advertiser it finds it builds these letters already filled in with the ad text, dates, cities and your trademark details, plus an evidence PDF with dated screenshots.

See monitoring plans

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