Google looks set for a court battle after a US judge refused to dismiss the latest lawsuit against the search giant"s AdWords system. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled that the public has an interest in whether AdWords represents an abuse of US trademark law.
US retailer American Blinds and Wallpaper took Google to court after its rivals were advertised alongside search results for its own business. Under the pay-per-click AdWords system, related adverts appear on a page of search results. This means that if a user searches for McDonald"s, for example, an advert for Burger King or another rival may appear next to the results.