Judge Tosses Google Search Ranking Lawsuit
A California judge has tossed out a lawsuit against Google brought on by KinderStart, a search engine that specializes in information relating to children. As we reported back in March, KinderStart sued Google because the company suddenly found itself fall in Google’s search ranking system. This led to a loss of traffic, which led to a loss in ad revenue. KinderStart accused Google of unfair business practices and sued not just for damages, but also to force Google to reveal its well-cloaked PageRank search algorithm to the public.
According to the judge, “Kinderstart has failed to allege facts sufficient to support a claim of anti-competitive conduct, such as denial of access to an essential facility or refusal-to-deal. Kinderstart does not identify any specific acts by Google that would evince an intent either to control prices in the Search Ad Market or to destroy competition in the Search Engine Market, nor has Kinderstart made clear what prices Google allegedly is attempting to control.”
The judge has left the suit open to amendment, which means that the lawsuit isn’t over yet, and Kinderstart could come back again to challenge Google in the future.
Reader Comments.
I’m actually glad of this. As jealous as I am of Google, this suit would have set a bad precident.
I’m glad the courts had enough understanding and knowledge to see that the suit was bunk and a sham. Although, as the article reports, the suit is still left open and it isn’t over yet.
Still, I am glad of this decision. I think if it had gone through - then it would also have left it open for someone like Kinderstart to sue competitors for outranking them. It would be a stretch but they could make the arguement that the other company used cheating methods outside the bounds of what Google uses to rank sites, etc.
I am also glad that as adults, we are holding up the concept of you can’t cry if you dont get things your way.
I find it funny how this act by Kinderstart shows just how childish this company really is. I mean - you lose rankings in Google and lose business. Instead of revamping your business, you cry and sue someone. What a bad message and precident that would’ve set.
Leave a Comment
Article Sponsor
More News
Features
- Automakers Need to Become Better Conversationalists July 2nd 2009
- Affiliates can win in the media buy game July 2nd 2009
- Crowd-Sourced Ads: A Measured Response June 28th 2009
- Is the government coming for you? June 28th 2009
- Customer Loyalty: How to Earn It June 25th 2009
Spotlight
Trust Me – I’m a Professional … SEOADOTAS — At WebMetro we typically provide SEO Action Plans as part of campaigns. As the name implies, an SEO [...] more...
-
Loading ...
Latest News
- Readers weigh in on ATT, ad networks and the iPhone July 2nd 2009 ADOTAS — In our weekly poll, readers overwhelmingly said that [...] more »
- Hiring, promotions, location, partnerships and product news July 2nd 2009 ADOTAS — Internet Oldtimers Foundation, Jumptap, eXelate, Kampyle, The Digital [...] more »
- OPA large ad units unfurl across the web July 1st 2009 ADOTAS — The Online Publishers Association said a group of [...] more »
- Email spam in June worst since 2007 July 1st 2009 ADOTAS — MessageLabs Intelligence released its numbers for June, and [...] more »
- Joost becomes YouTube roadkill, starts layoffs July 1st 2009 ADOTAS — Despite reworking its technology to work in a [...] more »
- Ad networks, not websites, choked on Michael Jackson news July 1st 2009 ADOTAS — The news of the pop star’s death saw [...] more »
- StrongMail doubling down on social media, buys PopularMedia July 1st 2009 ADOTAS — StrongMail has announced that it acquired PopularMedia, a [...] more »
Reader Favorites
Layoff Tracker
- AOL - 700
- Apple - 50
- Clear Channel - 2,800 total (1,000 currently)
- Google - 340
- IBM - more than 7,800
- Joost - about 90
- MySpace - in June, about 720
- World Avenue - 30 percent of workforce
- Yahoo - 2,220 total, about 700 currently
- Zango - closes, about 90, in addition to earlier layoffs
Classifieds
Recent Comments
- Josette Davids: Great article and an amazing time was had by all at this event. I'm an
- Mike Poserina: There is also a tragic flaw rumored in Bing's ad placement engine. When resolved,
- Andy: Erin, Never mind the commenters who can only see the negative side of things. I thank you
- pkohler: We've also noticed that ads frequently adversely affects the performance of a Web page. As
