The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) brought an action against the Trading Post Australia Pty Limited (Trading Post) and Google Inc (Google) in 2007. Last Thursday 22 September 2011 in Australia Competition and Consumer Commission v Trading Post Australia Pty Ltd [2011] FCA 1086, the Federal Court held that the Trading Post had engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct for advertising in Google’s AdWords the trading names of other businesses which directed consumers to its own website. However, the Federal Court dismissed the ACCC’s claim that Google had engaged in practices likely to mislead or deceive consumers through its AdWords service, or by failing to adequately distinguish advertisements (Sponsored Links) from search results (Organic Search Results).
Archives for September 2011
Domain name escrow services
In the age of cybersquatting registrants of Domain names are often held to ransom by people with untraceable email accounts in other parts of the world. Worse yet, is when the squatter has no right to the Domain name and the Buyer has to weigh the cost of enforcing their right to the Domain versus attempting to acquiring it from the current registrant.
What is a Joint Venture?
The term Joint Venture does not have a settled common law meaning under Australia law. It is therefore is not capable of a precise legal definition. That said, Joint Ventures in certain industries generally exhibit certain characteristics.