May 14, 2013 at 1:33pm ET by Amy Gesenhues

In a surprising turn of events, Germany's top civil court overturned two lower court rulings on a case involving Google's autocomplete function. According to the ruling, it is Google's responsibility to block libelous words that appear next to a name via the autocomplete function if Google has been alerted to the defamatory words. The plaintiff in the case was an unidentified nutritional supplements company that filed the lawsuit against Google because the German-language site's autocomplete function was adding the terms "Scientology" and "fraud" to the company's name in search queries. The [...]

Curtain Rises On Act 3 Of Google Antitrust Drama As Larry Page Meets With FTC

Nov 28, 2012 at 11:09am ET by Greg Sterling

Google CEO Larry Page met with representatives of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) yesterday, according to a Bloomberg report, as the company engages in antitrust-settlement talks to avert potential litigation. The article also says that formal settlement discussions have been going on for about a week. The Bloomberg piece also reports that the FTC "has told Google it won’t accept a resolution short of a consent decree." However Google doesn't want this outcome apparently because of the ongoing enforcement authority it would grant the agency. Neither Google nor the FTC truly want [...]

Report: FTC Likely To Abandon “Vertical Search” Antitrust Claims Against Google

Nov 21, 2012 at 10:25am ET by Greg Sterling

There are now enough indications to suggest that any antitrust settlement between the FTC and Google -- and the FTC would much prefer to settle than test its case in court -- won't involve "vertical search." An earlier Reuters report, probably resulting from an internal FTC leak, suggested that vertical search wasn't the core of the agency's case against Google. Today Bloomberg is reporting that the FTC is "wavering" on whether to pursue a formal action against Google. In particular the agency's own people (anonymous sources) suggest they can't make the "vertical search bias" claim stick [...]

After Sting Operation, Yelp Outs 8 Businesses That It Caught Trying To Buy Reviews

Oct 18, 2012 at 1:19am ET by Matt McGee

Yelp is now showing "Consumer Alert" warning messages on the profile pages of eight businesses that it says it caught in a sting operation trying to buy reviews. As the New York Times reports, Yelp conducted a sting operation in which one of its employees pretended to be an "Elite" reviewer and responded to review solicitations on Craigslist. As the article explains: A pest control company offered $5 to anyone who would post a review that the business itself had written. The moving company was willing to pay $50 but wanted original copy. An appliance repair shop provided a start: "I really [...]

DecorMyEyes Merchant Vitaly Borker Sentenced To Four Years In Federal Prison

Sep 7, 2012 at 3:52pm ET by Barry Schwartz

The New York Times reports Vitaly Borker, the merchant who boasted of being abusive to customers and claimed, inaccurately, that such behavior had a side benefit of producing good rankings in Google, has been sentenced. The sentencing was to four years in federal prison and ordered to pay approximately $100,000 in restitution and fines. Vitaly Borker who was arrested shortly after boasting in a New York Times article about how abusing customers improves Google rankings, pleaded guilty about 16 months ago. Yesterday, he was finally sentenced and had the opportunity to apologize to his victim [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: SEO | Google: Web Search | Legal: General

US Subpoenas Apple For Details About Default iOS Google Search Deal

Mar 14, 2012 at 10:11am ET by Greg Sterling

The US FTC has subpoenaed Apple to provide documentation and information about Google's presence on iOS as the default search engine. According to Bloomberg the FTC is also seeking similar information from handset makers and carriers. This arises in the context of the US government's broad anti-trust investigation of Google. These "default search" deals are common and Microsoft has done many of them. Like Spain and Portugal dividing up the "non-Christian world" in 1494 with the Treaty of Tordesillas, default search deals on PCs, browsers and mobile devices are essentially divided up between [...]

French Court Fines Google $660,000 Because Google Maps Is Free

Feb 1, 2012 at 4:00pm ET by Matt McGee

Google faces a $660,000 fine after a French court ruling that the company is abusing its dominant position in mapping by making Google Maps free. According to The Economic Times, the French commercial court "upheld an unfair competition complaint lodged by Bottin Cartographes against Google France and its parent company Google Inc. for providing free web mapping services to some businesses." Bottin Cartographes provides mapping services for a cost, and its website boasts several business clients such as Louis Vuitton, Airbus and several automobile manufacturers. The French court ruli [...]

Google To Join Anti-SOPA “Blackout Day” With Home Page Protest

Jan 17, 2012 at 4:26pm ET by Greg Sterling

Google has confirmed to several media outlets (initially CNET) that it will join other prominent websites tomorrow, including Wikipedia, in protesting the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) bills. While Wikipedia has said it will go dark, Google will link to anti-SOPA information on its homepage. Still, that information will be seen by millions who otherwise might not know about the legislation. SOPA and PIPA are supported by a range of corporate entities and media companies that elicited these draconian bills from Congress to address global IP piracy, copyright violati [...]

Class Action Lawsuit Against Google For Ads On Parked Domains Turned Down

Jan 9, 2012 at 9:27am ET by Barry Schwartz

paidContent reports the lawsuit brought against Google in 2008 over quality of ads showing on parked or error message web pages has been thrown out by the court. On Thursday, January 5th, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila turned down the class action suit brought against Google. He said he would not allow the suit because "it was more appropriate for companies who had bought the ads to show any alleged harm on an individual basis," according to paidContent. Here is the 25-page court document with the ruling: Google Parked Domain Class Actionvar docstoc_docid="110404116";var docstoc_t [...]

US Gov’t Takes Baidu Off The “Notorious Markets” Black List

Dec 21, 2011 at 10:04am ET by Greg Sterling

China has historically been the land of copyright and trademark infringement of Western software, goods and other intellectual property -- and Chinese websites such as Baidu and Taobao its willing handmaidens. In February of this year the US trade authority named Baidu one of the world’s "notorious markets" because it was seen facilitating copyright infringement. Here's what the US Trade Representative said in February: Baidu exemplifies the problem of online services engaged in "deep linking," which provide links to online locations containing the allegedly infringing materials. The [n [...]

Domain Seizures, De-Indexing And Censorship: Nevada Judge Dramatically Exceeds Limits Of His Authority

Dec 1, 2011 at 10:13am ET by Greg Sterling

There's a multi-pronged assault on the internet going on now. It comes from over-zealous legislators, the US executive branch and individual judges. There's an effort on multiple fronts to grant over-broad powers to copyright owners to instigate domain seizures, cut-off funds and de-index "rogue" websites if found guilty of "infringement," where that concept is very expansively defined with potentially disastrous consequences for free speech and legitimate internet operations. As you've no doubt read there are two pieces of anti-piracy legislation before the US Congress: SOPA and the P [...]

Rhetoric vs. Reality: Schmidt Plays Up Mobile Competition In Written Senate Testimony

Nov 7, 2011 at 8:39am ET by Greg Sterling

Is Google is a malevolent monopolist or merely the beneficiary of consumer choice in an intensely competitive environment? Has Google created a "network effect" that locks people in or is competition truly just "one click away"? These opposing views are on display in a PR war between Google and its opponents, such as anti-Google coalition FairSearch.org (which includes Microsoft). Neither position is entirely accurate. Google is far from the monster its critics portray. But it's also not truly vulnerable the "one click" hypothesis or the "next new thing" either. On Friday Matt McGe [...]

Judge Throws Out Class Action Lawsuit Against Yelp

Oct 26, 2011 at 7:57pm ET by Matt McGee

Yelp is off the hook, again. A judge has thrown out a class action lawsuit filed against Yelp that alleged the company tried to extort small businesses by promising to remove negative reviews in exchange for money. As we reported when the suit was first filed in February 2010, the plaintiffs -- which included a veterinary hospital in Long Beach, California -- claimed that Yelp's sales team said it would remove a "false and defamatory review" only if the vet bought advertising at about $300 per month. As CNET points out, that original suit was dismissed earlier this year and the plaintiffs w [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Legal: General | Yelp

Sen. Franken Criticizes Google In Hearings, Praises Google In Promotional Video

Sep 28, 2011 at 4:47pm ET by Greg Sterling

Politics are messy and often riddled with ethical potholes and challenges. One illustration of this is Senator Al Franken's apparent "conflict of interest" where Google is concerned. Discovered by Mike Blumenthal Franken did a "commercial" on behalf of Google's "Get Your Business Online" initiative in Minnesota. Blumethal characterizes Franken as "shilling for Google." It's not clear to me whether Franken's promotion of the Google campaign gives rise to a true conflict of interest. However, the concern here is the appearance created by the fact that Franken is a member of the Senate Judicia [...]

Google Expects A Black Eye At Today’s Senate Antitrust Hearing

Sep 21, 2011 at 9:49am ET by Greg Sterling

We're apparently not going to hear anything new at today's Senate subcommittee hearing on Google and competition. (Danny Sullivan and Gary Price will attend and blog the live testimony.) What we're likely going to get are very polarized views of Google and how it operates: Google the benign promoter of consumer-centric content and Google the self-interested destroyer of competition. List of Speakers However most of what we'll hear will be critical testimony from Google's competitors or their representatives. Here's the list of those who will testify: Eric Schmidt, Google Jeff Katz, CE [...]

Google Releases A Guide to the Senate Judiciary Hearing

Sep 20, 2011 at 9:46am ET by Barry Schwartz

In preparation for the anti-trust hearing this Wednesday, Google has released a guide to the Senate judiciary hearing web page. The questions address Google's point of view on the various questions or points on hand, they include: When you hear, "Google is a gateway to the web and controls what people see," remember... When you hear, "Google favors its own content," remember... When you hear, "Google's search ranking changes hurt a certain website or caused them to lose traffic," remember... When you hear, "Google deters other companies from innovating," remember... When you hear, "G [...]

Google, Yelp, Others To Appear At Antitrust Hearing Wednesday

Sep 16, 2011 at 4:30pm ET by Greg Sterling

Next week on Wednesday the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights will hold antitrust-related hearings on Google. This is a proceeding separate from but broadly related to the wide-ranging FTC antitrust investigation. The title of the hearing is "The Power of Google: Serving Consumers or Threatening Competition?" This title perfectly anticipates the two divergent lines of testimony that you're likely to hear. Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt will testify on behalf of Google. He will try to explain Google's attitude and method [...]

Google Wins Potentially Significant Antitrust Victory In Ohio

Sep 2, 2011 at 9:42am ET by Greg Sterling

Google has won a potentially significant legal victory in an Ohio case that involved antitrust claims and may portend victory in other similar cases where private litigants have asserted antitrust violations against Google. The case, which we've written about before is Google v. myTriggers.com, originally filed in late 2009. The short version of the underlying facts is as follows: Shopping site myTriggers spent lots of money driving traffic with AdWords myTriggers' quality score changed and it had to start paying more for traffic The company racked up a roughly $300K debt to Google, [...]

WSJ: Android, Along With Web Search, Now Part Of Google Antitrust Probe

Aug 10, 2011 at 5:34pm ET by Greg Sterling

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the FTC's antitrust investigation of Google will extend to Android, in addition to general search: Six weeks after serving Google with broad subpoenas, FTC lawyers, in conjunction with several state attorneys general, have been asking whether Google prevents smartphone manufacturers that use its Android operating system from using competitors' services, these people said. They also have inquired whether Google grants preferential placement on its website to its own products, such as Google's "Places" business listings, its "Shopping results" o [...]

ISPs Caught Hijacking & Redirecting Search Results

Aug 8, 2011 at 9:42am ET by Barry Schwartz

The New Scientist reports that several ISPs are allegedly hijacking searches conducted on search engines and redirecting in order to make a quick profit. A searcher would search for a keyword such as [apple] and the ISP may take that user through a redirect via an affiliate program to earn potential commissions on a merchant's web site. The New Scientist explains: The redirection can also produce unwanted results. A user wanting to read an article in The Wall Street Journal, for instance, might search for "wsj"; the redirection system would take them to a page offering subscription deals [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Legal: General | Top News

Get Our News, Everywhere!

Follow @sengineland

Got a tip? Tell us here!

Most Likes
Most Tweets
Comments

Our Stories Being Liked on Facebook

Search Engine Land Sponsors

Advertise With Us

Free Daily Search News Recap!

SearchCap is a once-per-day newsletter update - sign up below and get the news delivered to you!

Click to watch SMX conference video

Join us at an upcoming SMX event:

North America

SMX East - Oct. 1-3, 2013
SMX Social Media Marketing - Nov. 20-21, 2013
SMX West - March 11-13, 2014
SMX Advanced - June 2014

EMEA

SMX Stockholm - Oct. 14-15, 2013
SMX Milan - Nov. 7-8, 2013
SMX Israel - Jan. 2014
SMX Munich - March 25-26, 2014
SMX London - May 2014
SMX Paris - June 2014

APAC

SMX Sydney - April 2014

Search Engine Land produces SMX, the Search Marketing Expo conference series. SMX events deliver the most comprehensive educational and networking experiences - whether you're just starting in search marketing or you're a seasoned expert.