Misleading Ads: ACCC Wins Appeal Against Google

theweatherelectric writes "As previously noted on Slashdot, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has been involved in a long-running legal battle with Google. Vijith Vazhayil of Delimiter writes, 'The Full Federal Court of Australia has ruled that Google breached the law by displaying misleading or deceptive advertisements on its search results pages. The decision follows an appeal by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), following an earlier decision in favour of Google. The ACCC had first filed the case in July 2007 in the Federal Court alleging that Google had engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct by publishing eleven advertisements on Google's search results page. The headline of each of the advertisements in question comprised a business name, product name or web address of a competitor's business not sponsored, affiliated or associated with the particular advertiser.'"

Re:This is silly.... but unfortunately that is....

[dackroyd]

If AU requires ads to not be bought by competitors, .

Competitors are still allowed to bid on other companies trademarked names - it's just that the link can't be deceptive.

e.g. Toyota could bid on keywords like 'ford truck' to have one of Toyota's ads come up.

What they can't do is have the ad say 'Hot deals on Ford F-150 trucks' and then have it link through to a site that only sells Toyota trucks, as that is a deceptive advert.

Re:How is it illegal

[bloodhawk]

Google is an advertising company, therefore google must obey the advertising laws of the associated countries. In Australia the ACCC is the agency that chases down breaches of the advertising law. You will find an equivalent in just about every country.