Yahoo!, which earlier this year stopped allowing companies to buy pay-per-click ads triggered by trademarked terms owned by someone else is now being sued for doing the exact same thing through Google's AdWords system. The lawsuit is being brought forth by JP Enterprises, owner of dating site LoveCity.com on the grounds that Yahoo! and a few other vendors are running ads for their own dating services via AdWords when people type in search terms like "lovecity" or "lovecity.com." (To note, Yahoo's ads have vanished for all the keywords I've searched related to the site...True.com and a few adult sites are the only ones left advertising on those terms.)

Both Yahoo! and Google have faced lawsuits in the past from companies that wish to block the ad services from allowing advertisers to run ads on trademarked terms that they do not own. That lawsuit was partly responsible for the current Yahoo! policy. Google on the other hand has no problem allowing competitors to bid on trademarked terms, as made very clear during Mazda's brilliant PPC move during the 'Google Pontiac' campaign.

The twist on this lawsuit is that instead of suing Google for allowing the ads to run (as Geico did), JP Enterprises is suing the companies running the ads (Yahoo, True.com and Sparks Networks.) While the outcome and how it will impact Google's policy remains to be seen, the reality is that if a suit is going to be brought forth, this is the way to do it. Trying to put the onus on Google to keep advertisers from bidding on competitors terms is akin to asking Google to be responsible for preventing trademark infringement. That's not Google's job... Companies and their lawyers need to protect their own trademark which means going after the people doing the actual infringement.