Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ADVERTISING NEWS: Google’s Display of Sponsored Links Not Deceptive, High Court of Australia Holds, (Feb 6, 2013)

By William Zale, J.D.

Google did not engage in misleading or deceptive conduct under Australia’s Trade Practices Act by publishing or displaying sponsored links—a form of advertisement created by, or at the direction of, advertisers willing to pay Google for advertising text which directs users to a web site of the advertiser's choosing, the High Court of Australia has ruled (Google Inc. v. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, February 6, 2013; summary from court website).

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission claimed that sponsored links displayed by the Google search engine between 2005 and 2008 conveyed misleading and deceptive representations, and that, by publishing or displaying those search results, Google engaged in conduct in contravention of Section 52 of the Trade Practices Act 1974.

The issue was whether Google (as distinct from the advertisers to whom the sponsored links belonged) engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct by publishing or displaying the sponsored links. Google did not author the sponsored links; it merely published or displayed, without adoption or endorsement, misleading representations made by advertisers, the court observed. Ordinary and reasonable users would have understood the sponsored links to be statements made by advertisers which Google had not endorsed, and was merely passing on for what they were worth, according to the court.

Companies: Google Inc.

News: Advertising