Google Wins Landmark AdWords Appeal In Australia Over Competitor Names

[engine]

Google has won a landmark advertising case in Australia with a ruling that the Web giant was not responsible for misleading advertising that ran on its site.

The five judges of Australia's High Court unanimously ruled Wednesday that Google did not violate trade laws by allowing companies to purchase AdWords related to competitors' names. The decision overturned a Federal Court's ruling last April that found four advertisements purchased on the site between March 2006 and July 2007 were misleading and in violation of Australia's Trade Practices Act 1974.

Google Wins AdWords Appeal In Australia Over Competitor Names [news.cnet.com]

[EvilSaint]

This is an interesting win.

This is exactly what Telstra's subsidiary - Trading Post (the Australian version of eBay) got done for a few years ago by the ACCC and lost in court against ACCC for using brand and competitors in its Adwords Campaigns leveraging the Broad Matching abilities of Adwords.

Interesting ruling...