Well, this is scary.  The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against Google in a lawsuit (Rescuecom Corp. v. Google Inc.).  The summary of the suit is that if a user searches for a trademarked word (or phrase) then results imply sponsorship:

According to Rescuecom’s allegations, when a Google user launches a search for the term ‘Rescuecom’ because the searcher wishes to purchase Rescuecom’s services, links to websites of its competitors will appear on the searcher’s screen in a manner likely to cause the searcher to believe mistakenly that a competitor’s advertisement (and website link) is sponsored by, endorsed by, approved by, or affiliated with Rescuecom.

MarketingVOX also is linking to more lawsuits that are on the same topic over at SearchEngineLand.

This is what happens when courts, judges, and lawyers who are out of touch with reality decide cases that involve technology that they have never seen or used or understand.  This is patently absurd and the courts need to move into the current century.

A new story out from eMarketer is showing how search marketing dollars are being spent by clients. The data, from Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) used research from a Radar Research study.

The short version of the article is that of the $13.5 Billion spent in 2008, 88% went to Search Marketing and 11% to SEO. The assertion, however, is that more money will be flowing into SEO programs in 2009 because it delivers longer term results.

DMIdeas caveat… SEO works as long as you spend the big $$ on an infrastructure that eliminates human error.

The other takeaway from the article is that Search Engine Marketing spending will grow rapidly over the next 5 years as shown in this chart:

This is a great article from eMarketer discussing an increasingly important phenomenon… Click Fraud.  Many Search Marketing (SEM/PPC) firms out there use something called “automated bid management.”  The problem with these automated systems is that they react only to activity, they’re not looking at the posibilitiy of fraud, etc.  It is important, in my opinion, that only a mix of custom developed automated tools and human monitoring can succeed in today’s volatile marketplace.

Marketing Vox had an article on this topic at the end of January, as well.

An interesting, and positive article appeared in The Economist on November 28th about online advertising and how we will be impacted by the faltering economy.

To summarize, although advertising budgets will likely be cut in the coming months/years, there is a good chance that Internet Marketing will be able to defend its usefulness and survive the turmoil.  SEO and other marketing and branding tactics used on the Internet currently allow for actual data to be tracked, and metrics to be provided to a company so that there is justification for where and how the advertising money is spent.  According to the article, “All this makes spending on advertising much less speculative, so that it starts to be treated instead as a cost of sales.”

This is good news for the Interactive Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, and Google Adword agencies out there.  If these forecasters are right, then even in a recession this sector of the economy can still show growth.  As the article points out, we may need to look for different avenues to reach the consumer, such as a focus on social networking sites, but with creativity it should be possible to weather the storm.

But, wait, if it works here, why doesn’t it work elsewhere?  It does, I would argue, work the same across the board for ALL retail products.  Consumers basically ignore most non-targeted display advertising… the traditional method for brand building online, but, search is relevent and targeted, therefore consumers are MUCH MORE aware of the page content than they are on a typicall web page.