April 4, 2012 02:57 pm EDT

Australian court holds Google responsible for misleading search ads

In a turnaround from a lower court ruling, three Australian Federal Court judges ruled yesterday that Google was responsible for its advertisers' content and that it breached the country's trade law by hosting misleading ads. The case centered on four ads in particular, in which the advertisers used the names of their competitors to ensure the ads appeared in search results for said companies. That, the court ruled, was likely to mislead folks searching for those competitors. While there's no fine imposed on Google with that judgement, the judges are asking Google to change its practices and to pay court costs. The ruling also, of course, sets quite a precedent if it is upheld. Not surprisingly, Google disagrees with the judges' decision, noting that it believes "advertisers should be responsible for the ads they create on the AdWords platform," and that it's now considering its options (including an appeal to the High Court).

Australian court holds Google responsible for misleading search ads originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

PermalinkTG Daily | Businessweek ||Comments

Original Link: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/04/australian-court-holds-google-responsible-for-misleading-search/

View Full Article

Engadget

Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics. Engadget was launched in March of 2004 in partnership with the Weblogs, Inc. Network (WI

More About this Source Visit Engadget