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Editorial series: Trademark escalations – How to get an ID link for an ad query

Following-on from an interesting article dedicated to detailing the nuances of trademark policy, today we’ll focus on R-Links and how this element is critical to the completion of the most detailed review of possible trademark infringements.

What is an R-Link?

The R-Link is nothing more than the link that helps us to identify in our internal system each specific ad that appears in Bing and Yahoo Search.

Why use an R-Link?

Like fingerprints to a detective, R-Links are vital for the editorial team to retrieve all the details of each reported ad which in turn allows us to perform a complete investigation of possible infringements of our intellectual property policy.

Therefore, when R-links are missing from a request, it becomes difficult for us to conduct an effective review of possible incorrect uses of trademark terms, even when other details relating to the potentially transgressing ad are provided.

Please remember to always include the R-link(s) of the ad(s) that you feel are not in accordance with our editorial guidelines into the dedicated space of our trademark escalation form. To reiterate the message of the blog linked above, the onus is on the trademark owner to resolve possible trademark issues directly with the advertiser they deem to be in the wrong following a review of our policy guidelines.

In order to retrieve the R-Link of an ad you can follow a series of quick and easy steps:

  • Right click on the ad
  • Select ‘copy shortcut’ from the cascading menu

Example 1

  • Paste the link into the dedicated space of our trademark submission form: 

example 2

Or alternatively:

  • Click on the comic cloud that appears on the right hand side of each ad
  • Copy the R-link from the dedicated space
  • Paste it into the dedicated space of our trademark submission form

Note: Usually R-Links are very long links, so make sure that you copy and paste the full link before submitting any escalation to our editorial team. They are usually formatted as follows: http://1234567.r.msn.com/

You can also add multiple R-Links to your escalation, but please make sure to separate them by hitting the <Enter>/<Return> key before adding a different link.

After submitting the trademark escalation form, it can take up to 48 hours for the investigation to be completed and subsequent receipt of communication from the editorial team. This communication will explain whether the ad highlighted is using trademark inappropriately or if it is in compliance with our policies, thus confirming which decision has been taken.