Google (GOOG) wins a big lawsuit

For some time advertisers have objected when their competitors showed up in Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) search results for information on their companies. Clever marketers saw this as an easy way to pick off customers by targeting their rivals in the listings at the big search engine.

One of the oldest suits against Google for allowing this practice was recently dropped. American Blind & Wallpaper Factory had filed a suit against the practice in 2003, according to Reuters. For reasons that are hard to understand, "American Blinds stipulated that Google was paying nothing and making no change in policy in order for American Blind to settle the case." Google has won several cases on the matter in the US and lost several in Europe.

Why did American Blind back down? Wall Street may never know. It is likely that the company either ran out of money to pursue the legal action or that earlier court victories by Google covering similar accusations made the plaintiff decide that its chances were falling.

Whatever the reason, it removes a significant headache for the Google AdWords program, the source of most of its revenue.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.