Legal > Legal: General
May. 9, 2008 at 8:27am by Greg Sterling
Google Executives Defend Potential Yahoo Search Deal, Microsoft Releases "Proxy Directors" And Looks Beyond Search And "The Last Click"
Yesterday before Google's annual meeting of shareholders, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page fielded questions from reporters on a range of subjects, including a potential paid search deal with Yahoo and its anti-trust implications. Their argument was that a future paid search deal could...
See Related Stories In: Google: AdSense, Google: AdWords, Legal: General, Microsoft & Yahoo Merger, Search Biz
Apr. 24, 2008 at 10:29am by Greg Sterling
US Justice Department Scrutinizing GooHoo Paid Search Test
According to Reuters the US Justice Department is taking a look at the paid search partnership test between Google and Yahoo. According to the article, there are antitrust concerns raised by the test and its implications and the Justice Department has "initiated an investigation" of it....
See Related Stories In: Google: Partnerships, Legal: General, Microsoft & Yahoo Merger, Yahoo: Partnerships, Yahoo: Search Ads
Apr. 23, 2008 at 9:16am by Greg Sterling
Google Sued For Undesired AdSense Inclusion
Google is being sued by a man represented by a law firm that has successfully sued Google several times in the past. The firm is Kabateck Brown Kellner and the man is David Almeida, a local businessman from Massachusetts who claims that Google's sign up process for AdWords wrongly conceals...
See Related Stories In: Google: AdSense, Google: Legal, Legal: General
Apr. 10, 2008 at 9:44am by Barry Schwartz
90-Percent Of Pedophilia Complaints In Brazil Come From Google's Orkut
Brazil Senate orders Google to identify website pedophiles via AFP reports a Brazilian Senate has ordered Google to hand over the profiles of 3,261 suspected pedophiles yesterday. However, according to The Inquirer, Google is willing to help Brazilian authorities but not hand over users' personal information. Sergio Suiama, Sao Paulo's...
See Related Stories In: Google: Legal, Google: Orkut, Legal: General, Legal: Privacy
Apr. 9, 2008 at 4:42pm by Danny Sullivan
Microsoft: Forget It On Paid Search Partnership, Google & Yahoo
So Yahoo's going to partner with Google for a test of search ads? Better be only a test, Microsoft seems to be saying. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith just put out a statement suggesting that any partnership would likely be opposed on regulatory grounds, as Google would get more than...
See Related Stories In: Google: AdSense, Google: Partnerships, Legal: General, Microsoft & Yahoo Merger, Microsoft: Business Issues, Yahoo: Partnerships, Yahoo: Search Ads
Apr. 8, 2008 at 3:17pm by Greg Sterling
Google Rolls Out Chicago Transit, Defends Water Naming Policy In Earth
Google announced that it had expanded Google Transit to cover Chicago, the second largest public transit system in the US. That brings to 37 the number of cities in the US and abroad offered on Google Transit....
See Related Stories In: Google: Critics, Google: Earth, Google: Maps & Local, Legal: General, Search & Society: General
Feb. 20, 2008 at 9:07am by Barry Schwartz
Microsoft & Google Sued Over Paid Search Patent Infringement
Google And Microsoft Sued For Patent Infringement from MediaPost reports Google and Microsoft were sued for patent infringement over their paid search platforms. A Ohio based company named Paid Search Engine Tools of Liberty Township said Google's AdWords and Microsoft's adCenter products infringe on their patent, "Paid search engine bid...
See Related Stories In: Google: AdWords, Google: Legal, Legal: General, Microsoft: Business Issues, Microsoft: adCenter
Feb. 15, 2008 at 8:35am by Barry Schwartz
Porn Company Wants Google & Yahoo To Protect Kids From Pornography
Porn studio wants Google, Yahoo to protect kids from adult video from the AFP reports Steven Hirsch, the co-founder of Vivid Entertainment, a pornography company, wants Google and Yahoo to do more in protecting children from accessing pornographic content. Steven Hirsch said: None of the search engines and portals, but...
See Related Stories In: Google: Legal, Legal: Censorship, Legal: General, Yahoo: Legal
Feb. 1, 2008 at 7:18am by Greg Sterling
"Open Network" A Reality, C Block Of 700MHz Spectrum Hits $4.6 Billion "Reserve Price"
Yesterday the coveted "C Block" of the 700MHz spectrum, which will serve the entire US market, hit the FCC required minimum "reserve bid" of $4.6 billion. Google had promised to bid this amount to trigger the "openness provisions" imposed by the FCC. Effectively the rules now require that "any legal...
See Related Stories In: Google: Mobile, Legal: General, Search Engines: Mobile Search Engines
Jan. 21, 2008 at 11:09am by Greg Sterling
Google-DoubleClick Drama Moves To European Stage
Much of the discussion and debate in the U.S. over Google's proposed acquisition of DoubleClick was about the impact of the deal on consumer privacy, even though that wasn't technically part of the anti-trust analysis before the FTC. Accordingly, the FTC approved the acquisition with one commissioner dissenting largely on...
See Related Stories In: Google: Acquisitions, Google: Critics, Legal: General, Legal: Privacy
Dec. 20, 2007 at 9:18am by Barry Schwartz
Google, Yahoo, & Microsoft To Pay $31.5M For Illegal Gambling Ads
Microsoft, Google, Yahoo to Pay $31.5M Over Illegal Gambling Ads from ABC News reports the big three search engine companies settled with the US Justice Department to pay $31.5 million to educate that online gambling is illegal in the United States. Microsoft is paying the most with $21 million, followed...
See Related Stories In: Google: Legal, Legal: General, Microsoft: Business Issues, Yahoo: Legal
Dec. 18, 2007 at 9:39am by Greg Sterling
Privacy Emerges As Major US, EU Issue In DoubleClick Acquistion Review
Despite the fact that regulators are supposed to scrutinize the potential anti-competitive dimensions of the pending acquisition of DoubleClick by Google, privacy has sneaked into the debate as a major issue on both sides of the Atlantic. It almost threatens to overshadow the antitrust considerations, which are the heart and...
See Related Stories In: Google: Acquisitions, Google: Outside US, Legal: General, Legal: Privacy
Dec. 11, 2007 at 9:32am by Greg Sterling
Canadian ISP Modifies Google Homepage, Raises Spectre Of Net Neutrality Again
The net neutrality debate has recently been revived by allegedly fraudulent activity by Comcast in restricting or trying to prevent use of heavy bandwidth sites like BitTorrent. (Here's a PDF of a lawsuit complaint). Now Canadian ISP Rogers has been accused of hijacking Google's homepage to send bandwidth-related usage information...
See Related Stories In: Google: Outside US, Legal: General
Dec. 5, 2007 at 8:50am by Barry Schwartz
German Pornography Site Calls Google A Porn Site Too, Urges Court To Block It
Arcor to block Google from heise online reports Huch Medien, the operator of a erotic site Amateurstar.de, has filed in a German court to have Arcor, Germany's second-biggest telecom company, to block Google because Google Images is showing pornographic content without an age verification test....
See Related Stories In: Google: Legal, Legal: General
Nov. 21, 2007 at 10:39am by Greg Sterling
The Politics & Policy Of The Google-DoubleClick Acquisition
Yesterday, Danny wrote a lengthy piece dispelling some of the myths and misinformation surrounding the pending Google acquisition of DoubleClick. Today CNET has two articles, one on the EU decision to apply more scrutiny to the proposed deal, as we expected, and another on privacy advocates' concerns about the acquisition...
See Related Stories In: Google: Acquisitions, Legal: General, Legal: Privacy
Nov. 16, 2007 at 9:39am by Barry Schwartz
Google To Defend Against "Selling Top Spot" In June 2008
Australian court sets June date for Google case from Reuters updates us on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) suit against Google. The Australian watchdog sued Google over deceptive search ads back in July of this year. They then went to court to have their case adjourned to October...
See Related Stories In: Google: AdWords, Google: Critics, Google: Legal, Google: Outside US, Legal: General, Legal: Trademarks
Nov. 14, 2007 at 8:29am by Barry Schwartz
Will SEO Become The Law For Federal Agencies?
The Google Public Policy Blog wrote about a new bill that will require federal agencies to make their sites and information search engine accessible. The bill, E-Government Reauthorization Act of 2007, is being reviewed by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. The guidelines of the bill state:...
See Related Stories In: Legal: General, SEM Industry: General, SEO: General
Sep. 27, 2007 at 1:06pm by Greg Sterling
Listen To The Google-DoubleClick Hearings Live
If you have curiosity, a vested interest or just have a lot of time on your hands, you can listen live to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearings today considering the implications of the intended acquisition of DoubleClick by Google (courtesy of Gary Price, who has instructions on a couple...
See Related Stories In: Google: Acquisitions, Legal: General
Sep. 21, 2007 at 9:58am by Greg Sterling
Report: Google Planning Wireless Spectrum Moves In UK
Much has been written about Google's efforts to bid on and open the wireless spectrum in the U.S. Now, according to the Guardian newspaper (as spotted via MarketWatch), Google is considering something very similar in the UK, as regulators propose that existing mobile operators (Vodafone and Telefonica) relinquish part of...
See Related Stories In: Google: Mobile, Google: Outside US, Legal: General
Sep. 11, 2007 at 10:44am by Barry Schwartz
Man Arrested for Google Bombing Polish President Into Top Spot For "Kutas" (Penis)
Philipp Lenssen reports that a Polish newspaper says that a 23-year-old polish man was arrested for Google bombing. Marek W. from Cieszyn is accused of somehow causing the Polish president Lech Kaczyński's web site to rank tops for "kutas," which translates to penis. Marek reportedly used software to help produce...
See Related Stories In: Legal: General, Link Building: Link Bombs
Sep. 10, 2007 at 10:13am by Barry Schwartz
Australian Watchdog Has Day In Court Over Google "Selling Top Spot"
Google's 'top spot for sale' from News.com reports the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has had their day in court against Google. Australian Watchdog Sues Google Over Deceptive Search Ads from us in July covers more about how the the ACCC started its action against Google over ads. The...
