Google Sued in Domainer Lawsuit

[TestCase]

Not sure if this belongs here or under "Industry News", "Parking & Traffic Monetization" or "PPC / CPC / CPM Programs"...

Google Sued in Domainer Lawsuit--Vulcan Golf v. Google

By Eric Goldman

Vulcan Golf, LLC v. Google, Inc., No. 07CV3371 (N.D. Ill. complaint filed June 15, 2007) [WARNING! the complaint is a 4.3MB PDF]

Domainer litigation is heating up, and this lawsuit may be the most ambitious anti-domainer lawsuit to date. First, it is a putative class action lawsuit. Second, in addition to naming four leading domainer firms, the plaintiffs provocatively go after Google for providing ads to domainer sites. I believe this is the first lawsuit against Google for its domainer relationships.

The complaint itself is a 121 page, 638 paragraph (with one paragraph enumerating 47 defined terms), 4.3MB behemoth alleging trademark infringement and dilution, ACPA violations, RICO and other claims. ”

More Here

 

[Mike]

Without dissecting the article, i'd just like to throw one question "in the mix": Is it really surprising that Google is being sued?
Much like Microsoft, they're throwing their Billion Dollar weight around, having made a lot of enemies and people/domainers that question their tactics in the process.
Personally, i'm not surprised that a company is picking up a lawsuit against Google, be that for "Free" media coverage - advertising or for a true legal cause. Once you've outgrown your size like Google has, you're an easy target.

IB

 

[-REECE-]

Without dissecting the article, i'd just like to throw one question "in the mix": Is it really surprising that Google is being sued?
Much like Microsoft, they're throwing their Billion Dollar weight around, having made a lot of enemies and people/domainers that question their tactics in the process.
Personally, i'm not surprised that a company is picking up a lawsuit against Google, be that for "Free" media coverage - advertising or for a true legal cause. Once you've outgrown your size like Google has, you're an easy target.

IB

I guess Google really is the ultimate cybersquatter -- profiting off all these names and at the same time, pretending like trademarks are very important to them... please.

 

[Mike]

I guess Google really is the ultimate cybersquatter -- profiting off all these names and at the same time, pretending like trademarks are very important to them... please.

I absolutely agree with you, but if Google gets sued over that, then this suit should be extended to MS and all the other powerhouses that hold tens or hundreds of thousands of domains and make profits from exactly what they're so against. I'd love to see that happen, frankly i'd be the first to stand up and applaud the ones that file the suit.

 

[-REECE-]

I absolutely agree with you, but if Google gets sued over that, then this suit should be extended to MS and all the other powerhouses that hold tens or hundreds of thousands of domains and make profits from exactly what they're so against. I'd love to see that happen, frankly i'd be the first to stand up and applaud the ones that file the suit.

Agreed 100%. Some of us here try and run a legitimate business. It's hard enough taking jabs from the press every now and then when some idiot registers VA Tech, Colombine, etc related names... But the companies whom are doing the most cybersquatting are the same ones downplaying their actions, pretending that less than ethical domainers are the only ones to blame here...

How easy would it be to fix, I mean really? Take the top 10k Alexa sites, run software to determine likely typos for them and don't let those names be parked. Sounds pretty simple to me.

 

[cache]

for google, ads is their main source of revenue, I am sure google defend itself for
its full extend

 

[IAmAllanShore]

Great read of a complaint... and very telling of things that could possible "come" as a result of any success the plaintiff(s) have.
-Allan