Utah Legislature v Google

Recently, the Legislature of Utah passed a bill called the Trademark Protection Act. This bill, which will go into effect on June 30, will curb keyword - triggered advertising. For example, if you type in overstock.com into Google's search engine, they give you sponsored links for other competitors of Overstock. According to this new law, Overstock would be able to sue Google for that. This is a very controversial law as would be expected and lawyers for the Legislature said that was "very probable" that the law would be found unconstitutional. Many also think that the state is likely to be sued. Google spokesperson, Adam Kovacevich, says that the law will "hurt consumers, violate free speech, and will be inconsistent with both established U.S. trademark law and our capitalist system." Germany and France have similar laws in place; however, and Google is still able to operate there says Representative David Clark, House sponsor of the law. He also states that the law places his state first for trademark protection without going over the edge.

I do not see the problem with having competitors' links come up when you search for a specific site. Advertisements are everywhere on the internet and usually even when sponsored links do come up, people do not click on them if they were specifically looking for something else. For example say you were driving down the street looking for Stop n Shop in a new neighborhood. If you found it and it is across the street from Shaw's, chances are you are not going to go into Shaw's since you were specifically seeking out Stop n Shop. Now if you think Shaw's is a better store and see that it is there and then choose to go to it instead, it is not because you saw it that you decided to go in, but because you have a preference for that store, which you had before you ever drove by it. Therefore, I think this law is unnecessary and could reduce competition.