Turns Out, No, You Can't Sue Google For Putting Ads You Don't Like Near Your Listing

from the in-case-you-were-wondering dept

Last week we had the story of a Dutch dating site that was suing Google because they didn't like the ads it showed when people searched on their name. The company runs a "farm dating" site, and some of the ads were for "sex sites." The dating site worried it hurt their reputation. If allowed, it seemed like this would open up a huge host of problems as plenty of companies would try to sue Google over the ads it showed near their listings. It seems that a judge agreed, noting that the words "farm" and "date" were way too generic for the site to have any control over them. At least that gets this case out of court, but it really punts on the bigger issue. If the site did have a less generic name, would they have the right to control what kind of ads show up near their listing in the search engine? That would still create a ton of problems, giving an opening to misuse trademarks for anti-competitive purposes, rather than for consumer protection.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 24 Aug 2006 @ 6:51pm

    Isn't there some issue at the moment with Dell using the term "Toshiba Notebook" and "Acer Notebook" as part of their adwords?

    Wouldn't surprise me if there were more suits like this.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Xcetron, 24 Aug 2006 @ 6:59pm

    If these sites like to complaint so much, google should just cut them off and remove all their linking. See if they'd like that better.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    dorpus, 24 Aug 2006 @ 7:06pm

    Begging of the End

    Although the Silicon Valley crowd loves to mock nationalized search engines being built in other countries, what if those other search engines act more socially responsible? Is Google prepared to compete on ethical grounds? No, that is too contrary to the anti-ethics culture of Silicon Valley.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      jeff, 25 Aug 2006 @ 1:35am

      Re: Begging of the End

      i think google is very prepared to fight a battle of ethics with any other search engine that's around or may ever come about. i don't want an ethical search engine, and i doubt the vast majority of people who use the internet would want one either. we want relevance, we want our keywords to bring back appropriate results, whether it's knitting or dr. mengele.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    socrates3001, 24 Aug 2006 @ 7:37pm

    Googl Ads

    Google does offer some control over the ad content that appears on a person's web Paige. If this measure of control was not enough for the plaintiffs, they could easily switch to several other revenue sources for their site.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Uh, 24 Aug 2006 @ 8:01pm

    I think we're ignoring the real point:

    What the hell is a "farm dating" site, and who buys the flowers?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      farmer bob, 24 Aug 2006 @ 8:20pm

      Re: I think we're ignoring the real point:

      well old bessie gives a good bucket of milk for ya ;)

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Shohat, 25 Aug 2006 @ 3:10am

    I got kicked by adwords

    I am forbidden from putting the word " Ipod" in my adword ads , due to google's policy regarding certain trademarks . I am not forbidden from using "warcraft" for instance .

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 25 Aug 2006 @ 6:57am

    sheep escorts :)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    toufic saleh, 2 May 2009 @ 10:19pm

    Can I sue Google for an ad that insult my religion

    Can I sue Google for an ad that insult my relgion; and who can handle such a case;

    regards,
    toufic

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.