AdWords Advertiser Pays $2,000 After Misleading Searchers

ComputerWorld reports that a man who was selling “ineffective antispyware” software through AdWords has paid $2,000 to settle the dispute out of court. Seth Traub, of New Hampshire, used Microsoft’s name in the ads, such as “Microsoft AntiSpyware” for keyword searches on “Microsoft spyware cleaner” or “Microsoft antispyware.” The software Traub sold did not remove spyware, in fact, it reportedly made “users’ computers less secure.” He settled out of court by paying off the legal costs and attorney’s fees.