Kinderstart sueing Google over lower page ranking

[ForexPros]

SAN FRANCISCO, March 18 (Reuters) - A parental advice
Internet site has sued Google Inc. <GOOG.O>, charging it
unfairly deprived the company of customers by downgrading its
search-result ranking without reason or warning.
The civil lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose,
California, on Friday by KinderStart.com seeks financial
damages along with information on how Google ranks Internet
sites when users conduct a Web-based search.
Google could not immediately be reached for comment but the
company aggressively defends the secrecy of its patented search
ranking system and asserts its right to adapt it to give
customers what it determines to be the best results.
KinderStart charges that Google without warning in March
2005 penalized the site in its search rankings, sparking a
"cataclysmic" 70 percent fall in its audience -- and a
resulting 80 percent decline in revenue.
At its height, KinderStart counted 10 million page views
per month, the lawsuit said. Web site page views are a basic
way of measuring audience and are used to set advertising
rates.
"Google does not generally inform Web sites that they have
been penalized nor does it explain in detail why the Web site
was penalized," the lawsuit said.
While an entire sub-industry exists to help Web sites
feature prominently in Google results, the company is known to
punish those who try to trick the system into boosting their
search rankings.
The lawsuit notes that rival search systems from Microsoft
Corp.'s <MSFT.O> MSN and Yahoo Inc. <YHOO.O> feature
Kinderstart.com at the top of their rankings when the name
"Kinderstart" is typed in.
The complaint accuses Google, as the dominant provider of
Web searches, of violating KinderStart's constitutional right
to free speech by blocking search engine results showing Web
site content and other communications.
KinderStart contends that once a company has been
penalized, it is difficult to contact Google to regain good
standing and impossible to get a report on whether or why the
search leader took such action.
The suit was filed the same day a federal judge denied a
U.S. government request that Google be ordered to hand over a
sample of keywords customers use to search the Internet while
requiring the company to produce some Web addresses indexed in
its system.
((TECH-GOOGLE-LAWSUIT, Reporting by Michael Kahn and Eric
Auchard; editing by Todd Eastham;
Reuters Messaging: rm://[email protected];
e-mail: [email protected]; Tel: +1 415-677-2511))

emagine how many law suits will go to Google's direction if this will actually win ( it would be a complete nonsense but IF) :bah:

 

[BMFX]

i believe this lawsuite was dismissed by a fedal judge due to the fact it's GOOGLEs site and they can drop any one at any time for any reson.

You have to deal with it.

- John

 

[UD]

Class action would be interesting

 

[blue^ray]

i believe this lawsuite was dismissed by a fedal judge due to the fact it's GOOGLEs site and they can drop any one at any time for any reson.

You have to deal with it.

- John

I thought it would. its their website and they can do whateva they want.

 

[Dave_Z]

It had to lead to Court. Some people just don't get it.

Good for google they won this round.

 

[nmr86]

ofcourse they won

 

[bluesman]

Headline:

GOOGLE GIVES A START TO KINDER
AND BAKES IT INTO A CINDER

(Guess the Kinderstart clods mistook Google for a taxpayer-supported utility!)

 

[Ronald Regging]

Wow nothing like biting the hand that feeds you. Google GAVE them 10 million page views a month for FREE! They wouldn't have a business if it weren't for Google... Why don't they try doing what every other business in the world does... Implement marketing and advertising to drive sales... If they lost 70% of their traffic, they should still be damn happy they get 300,000 hits a month for FREE!