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I recently wrote on how MoveOn.org had ads by a Republican senator removed. The organization whose aim is to elect Democrats to office generated a lot of controversy for filing a complaint with Google. The ads, run by Senator Susan Collins, used the trademarked term MoveOn.org in the text. Google’s policy is to remove Google AdWords that use trademark terms in the copy, if the trademark owner complains.
Wired Magazine blogs that MoveOn.org decided to reverse their decision and let Collins run the ads. They say they want to promote free speech. According to Google’s Pablo Chavez of Google’s public policy counsel, the decision was not political. But conservative bloggers and an opinion piece in the San Francisco Examiner suggested otherwise.
So far nothing has changed. If you type “Susan Collins” in Google, one ad shows up that says:
Help Susan Collins Fight (links to Susan Collins home page)
A dot.org is polluting politics
Help us fight to make Maine right
www.moveon.org
They are using MoveOn.org in the display URL, which is allowed in Google’s policies. I’m sure all this contraversy is getting more attention to the issues than the ads will. As for MoveOn.org, they are celebrating Al Gore’s Nobel Prize so I guess they can concede on this issue.
