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 Spain: Complaints over mixing search results and ads

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) accuses Google of inadequately distinguishing between its sponsored links and the normal "organic" search results (see Update 51). The case will be heard in the Federal Court June 23, 2008.

Same problem in Spain: The Federation of Consumers in Action (FACUA) filed complaints with several government ministries (the National Consumer Institute, the Spanish Office of Patents and Trademarks, the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs ministry of the region of Madrid) against Yahoo and Google claiming that the ads aren't adequately distinguishable from the search results. The group also criticizes the use of trademark protected terms as keywords. According to the group, one third of telecommunications companies, two thirds of travel agencies and 20 percent of the banking entities studied used the names of their competitors to advertise on Google.

  • November 19, 2007: Australia sets date for Google keyword case, ZDNet:
    "The Australian Federal Court has set a hearing date for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's allegations against Google of misleading and deceptive conduct."

 

 

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