• Associated Press, Wednesday, April 11, 2007 10:45 AM

The Utah State Legislature is again meddling in the practice of search engine marketing, having passed a law that limits keyword-based advertising by prohibiting advertisers from buying trademarks that belong to competitors.

Utah House Majority Leader David Clark likens the practice to diverting a shopper in a department store to buying a specific dress shirt. "You get right to the front door, and somebody whisks you away to a different store," Clark said. This is a poor analogy. It's not like Google users are bombarded by advertising or even directed to a given result; we're not talking about a flashing pop-up here, but rather a small text appearing on the right hand of the page--the same place Internet users have become accustomed to seeing ads on other Web sites.

The Associated Press calls the new restriction "Utah's latest grand experiment in trying to control the global Internet," which it can't do; only the federal government can regulate interstate commerce. A few years ago, Utah drafted an adware/spyware law that was later struck down in federal court. The state's so-called Trademark Protection Act takes effect on June 30.

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