You are Plain Wrong. It's a terrible thing. Due to the risks inherent to black hat SEO (delisting), serious non-shady companies wouldn't use it to compete on

You are Plain Wrong. It's a terrible thing. Due to the risks inherent to black hat SEO (delisting), serious non-shady companies wouldn't use it to compete on a competitor keyword. This isn't 2011. Companies that are going to use black hat SEO are still going to use black hat SEO, they aren't going to switch to the ad marketplace. Take a second and consider who these ads benefit. Having to compete in paid listings on your own trademark benefits Google, firstly. Secondly, I guess it benefits deep-pocketed competitors who can position themselves above the top organic result. It absolutely does NOT benefit users, and it is an outright tax on the company owning the trademark (who users are obviously attempting to reach via Google). It is a Bad Thing. Unless you're Google.