Google Wins Bid for Hearing at Australian Court Over Ads

Google Inc. (GOOG), owner of the world’s most-popular search engine, won a bid to appeal an Australian ruling that it misled consumers in 2007 by including paid advertisements from competitors in search results for businesses.

The High Court of Australia in Sydney today granted Google’s request for a hearing.

An April 3 decision made Google responsible for ads that are displayed and said the company isn’t merely a conduit for the advertiser. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had sued Google in what it said was the first claim of its kind in the world that makes the search-engine company responsible for the content of ads.

The appeal case is Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v. Google Inc. NSD1759/2011. Federal Court of Australia (Sydney).

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Schneider in Sydney at jschneider5@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Douglas Wong at dwong19@bloomberg.net