Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc., owner of the most popular Internet search engine,

(Note: I am not sure most used actually translates into most popular. I think people are just too f'ing lazy to break bad habits. That is also how I explain Wal-mart. :-))

was accused in a lawsuit by a New York online search company of manipulating fees on search terms to thwart competitors.

TradeComet.com LLC, owners of SourceTool.com, a free business-to-business Internet search site for industrial equipment, claims Google took steps to “starve” its revenue and site traffic to protect Google’s monopoly and prop up a partner Web site for business searches.

SourceTool.com bought keywords and phrases for 5 cents to 10 cents under Google’s AdWords program to attract visits, and profited when revenue generated by user clicks on the site exceeded what it paid for keywords. After SourceTool’s daily visits hit 600,000, Google raised keyword prices to $5 to $10.

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I have no idea whether the suit has legs or not. I think all of us who have used google's adwords have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of it. Since those of us who use adwords aren't really supposed to talk about things we've experienced that would raise eyebrows, I will just leave it at that even though there is quite a bit I could write. I am just not in the mood to anger the Google Gods :-(

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ayglTmXXfl08&refer=home