Google Inc won a landmark court case against Australia's Consumer Commission (ACCC) on Wednesday when Australia's High Court ruled that it had not engaged in misleading behavior with its sponsored links and that it was not responsible for messages conveyed by paid advertisers. The finding ends a six-year legal battle between Google and Australia's consumer watchdog,
the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which accused Google of engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct over paid advertisements.
The ACCC based its case on search results in 2006 and 2007, where a search for Honda Australia would show a paid advertisement for a Honda competitor, CarSales. The ACCC said the ads were deceptive, as they suggested CarSales was linked to Honda Motor Co Ltd.
Google argued that it was not responsible for the advertisements, as it was only the conduit for the advertiser.
ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said in website , “The ACCC took these proceedings to clarify the law relating to advertising practices in the internet age. Specifically, we considered that providers of online content should be accountable for misleading or deceptive conduct when they have significant control over what is delivered.”
“The High Court’s decision focused only on Google’s conduct. In the facts and circumstances of this case the High Court has determined that Google did not itself engage in misleading or deceptive conduct,” Mr Sims said.
“It was not disputed in the High Court that the representations made in sponsored links by advertisers were misleading or deceptive.”
“It remains the case that all businesses involved in placing advertisements on search engines must take care not to mislead or deceive consumers,”
The five High Court judges said Google did not create the sponsored links and the company was not responsible for messages in the links.
Source: Reuters , ACCC