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Judge Tosses Google Search Ranking Lawsuit

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July 14th 2006
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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.



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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.

Posted by Cryptblade | 12:08 pm on July 14, 2006.

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