I read the newspapers avidly. It is my one form of continuous fiction - Aneurin Bevan
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Google's keyword advertising is in the legal spotlight
A LEGAL ROW IS BREWING amongst the Wisconsin legal fraternity over the practice of paying for keywords on Google and other search engines to boost one company's link over a rival's.
It all started when Cannon & Dunphy bought adverts using the key words "Habush" and "Rottier," which are names associated with one of Wisconsin's largest law firms and Cannon's biggest rivals.
Habush Habush & Rottier have decided that the best way to attack this is with an expensive court case with a slightly new angle. It is accusing its competitor of violating privacy laws.
Cannon has admitted that it paid for the keywords but denied wrongdoing, saying it was following a clearly "legal business strategy". If Habush was not so tight-fisted it would have bought its own name and the cunning plan would not have worked.
Robert Habush said that Cannon's moral compass needed fixing. Them's fighting words in Wisconsin, apparently.
Other legal experts don't think that Habush and company has much of a chance, as the law it has cited is designed to protect the privacy of the great unwashed. It aims to prevent the names of private individuals from being used in advertising campaigns rather than to shield commercial outfits trying to protect their business interests. µ
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I can think of many arguments and grounds for where this practise should be found wrong. But then, I'm not the one who dips in court with the judge who can't be arsed to work much past lunch, due to his old act up as a law enforcer of the court. Welcome to a new kind of tension.
M R snakes
M R not
O S A R
C M B D eyes?
L I B! M R snakes
Does Google offer exclusivity on AdWords for an additional fee now?
Otherwise both Firm A and Firm B could shill for the same keyword and their ads would pop up side by side or in rotation (subject to the limits AdWords customers can set/impose).
Still, it's fun watching law firms lose their good judgment or otherwise have the free time to create test cases. Unless Wisconsin has some really interesting local law, it'd be hard to frame an AdWord as appropriation - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_laws_of_the_United_States - and courts seem pretty conservative on the subject... but if the precedent does get set, Google's business model might take on a little water.)