what I find shady is that its against the law to spoof your competitors domain name, but google will allow you to display ads for when people search for your competitor.
Not exactly the same thing. Spoofing you comp's trade name is pretty much the definition of trademark violation.
It (Google's policy) flops around a bit. It differs between countries and seems to get tweaked or turned over every so often.
I believe in the US bidding restrictions on trademarked terms were recently removed. But you are still restricted in using trademarked terms in ads.
Personally, I agree that restrictions (bidding on trademarked terms) should be removed. I would compare it to handing out flyers on the street outside you competitions' shop. Tasteless maybe, but shouldn't be illegal. Companies don't own the search results, trademark or not any more then they own the street.
I believe you can ask them to remove ads on particular terms, if you hold a trademark on them. I recall reading about a lawsuit that covered that issue several years ago, and I think Google lost. But I could be imagining legal precedents again.
It (Google's policy) flops around a bit. It differs between countries and seems to get tweaked or turned over every so often. I believe in the US bidding restrictions on trademarked terms were recently removed. But you are still restricted in using trademarked terms in ads.
Personally, I agree that restrictions (bidding on trademarked terms) should be removed. I would compare it to handing out flyers on the street outside you competitions' shop. Tasteless maybe, but shouldn't be illegal. Companies don't own the search results, trademark or not any more then they own the street.