Posts tagged with 'markmonitor'

The dark side of paid search: scams, fraud and trademark abuse

paid search scam Trademark infringement. Counterfeit merchandise. Domain squatting. Affiliate abuse. The old bait-and-switch. There are myriad ways of commiting fraud, but overall, some 600 million paid search clicks are stolen in the US every month.

At least, according to a recent study by MarkMonitor which found, based on an analysis of data from various sources including comScore, Marketing Sherpa, Hitwise and others, that one in seven brand-driven paid search clicks go somewhere they ought not to according to trademark law, affiliate agreements or the DMCA.