Today the High Court granted special leave to Google to appeal against the decision of the Full Federal Court in April this year that Google had contravened section 52 of the Trade Practices Act 1974.
Google will appeal against findings by the Full Federal Court that it had engaged in conduct that was misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead or deceive by publishing, or causing to be published, four advertisements on the results pages of its Google Australia website.
The decision by the Full Federal Court followed a successful appeal by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The ACCC looks forward to the High Court considering the issue of the role and responsibility of search engine providers in online search advertising.
Background
On 3 April 2012, the Full Federal Court held that Google had engaged in conduct that was misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead or deceive by publishing, or causing to be published, four advertisements on the results pages of the Google Australia website. The decision followed a successful appeal by the ACCC against the decision at first instance.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission initially instituted legal proceedings in the Federal Court, Sydney, against Google alleging misleading and deceptive conduct in relation to sponsored links that appeared on the Google website in July 2007.