A consulting firm that makes its living in the ethics business has sued one of its rivals for trademark infringement, accusing the second ethics consulting firm of stealing away customers via bogus Google search results.

Corpedia filed a lawsuit on Dec. 18 against ethics and legal compliance company LRN, alleging that LRN purchased Corpedia’s federally registered trade name as a Google-sponsored ad. As a result, when clients searched for “Corpedia” on Google, the top result of their search would be a link diverting them to LRN’s Website.

Such a “bait and switch scheme,” according to the lawsuit, misled prospective customers to believe that LRN was Corpedia or that the two had a business partnership. No such relationship exists between the two companies.

Corpedia General Counsel Stephen Martin says his company first became aware of the violation on Dec. 4, when yet another competitor of Corpedia, Integrity Interactive, brought the matter to the company’s attention. “It just goes to show you the difference between doing business the right way, and doing business the wrong way,” Martin says. LRN has since taken down the Google ad.

“We’re shocked to learn that LRN … would act in an unlawful and unethical way, and that we had to take this step to protect our company, our employees, and current and potential clients,” Martin says. “For people who are in the ethics and compliance community, this type of behavior is just unacceptable.”

LRN, however, says that using a competitor’s name in targeted keyword searches is “legal, ethical, and commonplace,” and that the presentation on Google—where the sponsored link appears in a different color than others—clearly informs viewers that the link is a paid advertisement.

Kathleen Brennan, an LRN spokeswoman, says Corpedia contacted her company about the matter only a few days before filing the lawsuit, and the company first heard about the lawsuit from Compliance Week itself. “We’re left to conclude that their goal is not to avoid conflict or amicably resolve an innocuous misperception, but rather to create conflict in the service of publicity,” she said in an e-mail to Compliance Week. “Corpedia’s statement is utterly misleading and attempts to litigate their case via the media.”

Martin says Corpedia does not know how long the alleged diversion may have been happening, so the company is seeking an unspecified amount of damages for now. “Links that come from Google are our best leads,” Martin says. “They’re the most likely for us to close, and they are the highest market.”

Brennan counters that in LRN’s experience, most ethics and compliance executives take months to evaluate vendors and would never make significant purchasing decisions based on who appears first in a Google search. “LRN is mystified that its modest advertising program solely with Google’s Sponsored Link program could possibly result in ‘irreparable injury’ to their business,” she said. “We are left therefore to conclude that, ironically, their action represents a marketing and publicity initiative.”