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Google to face jury trial

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Google AdwordsGoogle will face a jury trial to defend its pay-per-click advertising system, AdWords, against a trademark infringement case filed by US window blinds reseller, American Blind & Wallpaper Factory Inc. This marks the first case against keyword advertising problems ever to face the jury.

According to Reuters, American Blinds complaint argues that Google’s system violates trademark law by allowing competitors of American Blinds to use Google’s system to buy keyword search terms, such as “American Blind,” which trigger ads from rival companies.

“We spend millions of dollars annually to build brand awareness and cannot stand idle while Google allows our competitors to ride our coattails,” said a statement from Steve Katzman, CEO of American Blind.

Expect this legal scuffle to heat up considering the risks involved. Apparently, AdWords constitutes 98% of Google’s $10.6 billion revenue earned in 2006. Jury selection is slated on November 9.

Originally posted on May 12, 2007 @ 3:57 am

Yahoo! begins “Be a Better…” brand campaign

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YahooYahoo! Inc. today unveiled a new integrated brand campaign that demonstrates how Yahoo! can help people be better at whatever they’re into. Whether it’s being a better movie-goer, fashionista, grill master, or marketer, Yahoo! empowers users to connect to their interests and passions and evolve that part of their lives through Yahoo!’s breadth of information, tools, and services.

“From everyday tasks to pie-in-the-sky aspirations, this campaign is really about empowering our customers be to better at whatever is important to them,” said Cammie Dunaway, chief marketing officer at Yahoo! Inc. “It’s not about what Yahoo! does, but what you can do with Yahoo!.”

The “Be a Better …” campaign is Yahoo!’s most integrated and interactive effort to come to life across Yahoo!’s network. The campaign spotlights Yahoo! Answers and Yahoo! oneSearch, a new search service that gives consumers better search results on their mobile phone, to showcase how people can enhance their lives by using Yahoo! to access the world’s knowledge and make informed decisions from anywhere, anytime.

Originally posted on May 12, 2007 @ 4:50 am

Google Study: 1 out of 10 web pages have malicious codes

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danger.jpgA new study by Google covering 4.5 million pages, titled “The Ghost In The Browser”, reveals that 10% of web pages are capable of activating malicious codes and 16% are suspected to contain codes that might be a threat to computers.

“To entice users to install malware, adversaries employ social engineering. The user is presented with links that promise access to ‘interesting’ pages with explicit pornographic content, copyrighted software or media. A common example are sites that display thumbnails to adult videos,” said Niels Provos, Google researcher.

In response to this emerging threat, Google already created a system alert stating “this site may harm your computer” for all identified harmful Web sites. Although this action cannot arrest this problem, it helps minimize the number of users affected by these malicious codes.

Originally posted on May 13, 2007 @ 9:28 am