Comments on: Australian Government Sues Google For “Misleading And Deceptive Conduct”

By: Google being sued by government Australia - 77lab - TEST

Google being sued by government Australia - 77lab - TEST — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 11:23:09 +0000

[...] deceptive conduct due to deceptive Adwords ads presented next to Google search results’, reports TechCrunch. 77 does not see much of a threat here, but if Google loses the case, it might mean the end of [...]

By: Google being sued by government Australia , 77Lab

Google being sued by government Australia , 77Lab — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:53:33 +0000

By: Google In Court, Government Investigation Continues « iBrian

Google In Court, Government Investigation Continues « iBrian — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 02:59:08 +0000

[...] our previous coverage here for the full details of the case. The hearing was adjourned until October [...]

By: Cam

Cam — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 00:35:17 +0000

@Tyroga

Agree with your first point: They’re actually going after Sensis, but as Duncan said, the Google side salad adds some relevance to our international friends.

Disagree strongly on the second point: It’s basically passing off and that’s a violation of the TP act. Heaven forbid mere $10m businesses simply capitulate to the might of Telstra/Sensis. The ACCC should be congratulated for setting things straight.

By: scootergrrl

scootergrrl — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 00:20:36 +0000

Agree with JT’s comment “What they are doing is embarrassing us poor Aussies with their stupidity.”

This really is rather embarrassing.

Also agree with Bill Hartzer, “Google is just the advertising medium. They should be suing the advertisers themselves rather than Google.”

There appears to be a legitimate case against Trading Post but Google sponsored links have always been clearly labelled in my experience.

If the ACCC push the point re: average users… their argument might steer towards a conclusion of ‘the average Australian user’ requiring a different standard (the ‘idiot standard’) than the rest of the world *rolling my eyes*

By: warren

warren — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 00:05:04 +0000

For those who are arguing that google has nothing to do with this, fair enough they didn’t engage in deceptive conduct themselves, but they aided, abetted and most importantly in the eyes of the law, profited from the Trading Post’s conduct.

That’s enough to get them named in the suit. They might come out of it with a slap on the wrist, but rest assured, these kind of cases don’t get summarily dismissed.

The Trade Practices Act has some real teeth to it, and for a company which is happy enough to play by the local rules to get into places like China, it’s pretty hypocritical for them to claim innocence on this one.

By: Tyroga

Tyroga — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 23:30:25 +0000

Hey Guys you left a rather vital fact out… the ACCC is suing “The Trading Post” the infringing advertiser. The Google part is, I would say, only a minor part of this suit.

Having said that I think it is insane that we are using government money to attempt these frivilous actions.

By: El Blog de Gastón Bercún » Blog Archive » Problemas legales para Google en Australia

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 21:59:40 +0000

[...] Techcrunch.com y [...]

By: BS meter

BS meter — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 20:35:30 +0000

what comes around goes around.

on adsense for content, google makes it a point of saying that their ads need to be clearly marked on your site. if you deceive or try to confuse the reader that ads are part of your written text they will pull your account. this includes such practices as putting pictures above ad links etc.

well it’s obvious that the ads on top of the google search results ARE CONFUSING READERS with the organic search results.

I seriously doubt that Google will move all advertising to the right column to make it make the distinction between ads and search results clear.

they know where their bread is butter on…. remember do no evil:)

By: Jeffrey

Jeffrey — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 19:55:28 +0000

Google maybe successful in all their defenses, but they werent on an offense/bullying in Germany.

Google lost the battle of claiming a domain http://www.gmail.de they DO NOT own.

By: Vic

Vic — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 19:04:45 +0000

Ugh. As much as I dislike google, they have all their ads clearly marked. It’s even annoying sometimes for people using adsense.

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 19:03:23 +0000

Don’t see why Google is being involved in this case, accept that it is a big company. If the ads had been placed in a normal newspaper (as happened in the past), would they still be taking the newspaper publisher to court? Trading Post is the one doing the misleading advertising, and should be held reponsible for their actions. Also the ACCC needs to consider what they are asking for in the use of trademarks as keywords. Do they want a brand company eg Nokia to be the only ones allowed to use that word in the ads – what impact would that have on all the small businesses who supply Nokia products and want to be able to advertise them.

By: Serge

Serge — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:43:32 +0000

huh?

By: Greg Andrew

Greg Andrew — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:35:08 +0000

Google provides a clearer separation between ads and search results than any other search engine (Yahoo, Ask, MSN), so why go after Google first? (It’s a rhetorical question)

By: website copywriter

website copywriter — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:54:30 +0000

I’m with Bryce on this one. The ACCC must really feel strongly about their corner to pursue this.

By: Bill Hartzer

Bill Hartzer — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:43:20 +0000

Google is just the advertising medium. They should be suing the advertisers themselves rather than Google. What, Google is now supposed to make sure every advertiser’s products or services are legit and live up to the ad copy?

@Mike, no one forces people to click on the ads.

By: Five Tigers that don't want google

Five Tigers that don't want google — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:53:18 +0000

Australia, Germany, France, Russian, and commonwealth countries.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:51:01 +0000

It’s all part and parcel of the Google MO. As their search relevancy goes down, users (even experienced users) will be forced to click on the ads. In that respect, Google couldn’t care less how relevant a particular set of results are, as long as you’re getting shown relevant ads.

By: AnonTroll

AnonTroll — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:06:57 +0000

Uh, come on Larry & Sergey, do no evil, remember? Or are you two just full of it sitting in the ivory towers washing your hands off the details handled by your minions?

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:23:09 +0000

Some of these comments are ludicrous. “Google should shut down australia”, “google should redirect them to disney”. I’m not complaining about they guys who posted that, I am trying to make a point that when an organization gets this powerful there is a legitimate need to scrutinize what they are doing. Google effectively has a monopoly on advertising right now and they are focused on generating profits, not anyone else’s interests.

I do see a problem with some of what google is doing. If it is not deceptive to have a link labeled “ABC company”, that when clicked on takes you to “XYZ company” instead then I don’t know what is. And if these are trademark keywords we’re talking about here then that’s also a problem.

By: Duncan Riley

Duncan Riley — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:46:29 +0000

William(comment 12)
true, but the fact The Trading Post (sensis/ Telstra) is also named in the action isn’t all that interesting for most TechCrunch readers, hence the focus on Google.
For the rest I agree with #2 as well. I hope Telstra suffers. Now if only the ACCC could get Telstra over the ADSL transfer scam I’d be happier again

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:32:58 +0000

I also second #2.

I think the ACCC is making a very good point, a company should not be using a competitors name in the title of thier advertisment without fully disclosing thier position simple as that, its misleading and in Australia that is illegal.

However maybe legal action is not the best avenue, but then again maybe its the only way a company like GOOG will listen to the ACCC

By: Tom Donchez

Tom Donchez — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:20:21 +0000

Second the article in #2.

By: Jason Patrick

Jason Patrick — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:07:24 +0000

I would love to see Google just shut down Google Australia for one month. The fallout would be huge. Vendors, advertisers, and the general population would be up in arms. After one month, the government would beg Google to come back.

By: C. C.

C. C. — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 13:37:52 +0000

Lawyers getting a piece of Google? Who’d of thought? It takes law to make money. Google has to answer to the piper just like anyone else. They are going to get a chuck taken out of them like you wouldn’t believe.