Google’s online advertising guidelines are clear on many issues, including the fact that "Google AdWords prohibits the promotion of online pharmacies and prescription drugs."  But some organizations have pushed ahead, anyway, and in response, Google has decided to sue what it considers "rogue pharmacies."

Yesterday morning, Google filed a civil suit in federal court against advertisers that have intentionally defied its pharmacy-related rules.  More defendants are supposed to be named in the future, too.

Michael Zwibelman, Litigation Counsel, explained on the Official Google Blog, "Litigation of this kind should act as a serious deterrent to anyone thinking about circumventing our policies to advertise illegally on Google."

Zwibelman later added, "Rogue pharmacies are bad for our users, for legitimate online pharmacies and for the entire e-commerce industry – so we are going to keep investing time and money to stop these kinds of harmful practices."

This development should earn Google a few points in the "don’t be evil" department, considering that the company’s dedicating itself to alienating advertisers.

What’s more, Google’s almost sure to win the lawsuit and accomplish its goal, considering the issue is rather black and white and the company has plenty of lawyers and money at its disposal.