Aussies Sue Over Misleading Google Ads

eldavojohn writes "Google is the target of another lawsuit — this time over whether or not they are responsible for the content that advertisers put up on their site. The case involves an instance where Google displayed ads for two automotive dealerships in Australia, yet the links led users to the site of a commercial rival. The company that placed the ads in 2005 avoided a lawsuit by settling with Australian regulators, who are now going after Google for not policing the ads. If this suit holds up it will set a precedent for very heavy ad monitoring responsibility on the part of all search engines, not just Google."

Comments

Really?

[TubeSteak]

If this suit holds up it will set a precedent for very heavy ad monitoring responsibility on the part of all search engines, not just Google."

Only in Australia... Right?

Not that it isn't a good idea for all countries to pursue, but Australia's actions don't automatically effect the rest of the world

Google recommends the use of trademarked names

[pongo000]

I run an automotive performance tuning business, and use Google AdWords (with mixed success) to advertise. Google recently introduced a new feature where they recommend keywords to use based upon, I assume, traffic profiles with similar businesses.

Guess what some of the suggested adwords were?

You get a thousand points if you guessed "names of your competitors." Several obviously trademarked names showed up in their list.

I found this to be quite interesting in that Google was practically *inviting* me to use these trademarked names to drive clicks to my site.

Tempting? Yes...but in the end, not tempted enough to violate Google's own policies which prohibit this practice.

It did get me to wondering, though: Can I be held liable for false advertising or in violation of Google's TOS if I follow Google's keyword recommendations?