June 5, 2006

Google Stops New Ranking Lawuit With Anti-SLAPP Threat; Previous KinderStart Suit Continues Despite This

Google Avoids Another Lawsuit Over Rankings (For Now)--Roberts v. Google from Eric Goldman at his Technology & Marketing Law Blog looks at how a case involving rankings on Google got dismissed before going to trial, thanks in large part to a counter-suit that Google threatened.

Mark Roberts was claiming breach of contract, in part because of Google's add URL feature and help pages supposedly formed a promise that his pages (which he doesn't say but assumes are most relevant) should be top ranked. They were in 2003 but later dropped.

Google threatened to file an anti-SLAPP motion against Roberts, a means of effectively getting the court to agree that the case is without merit and recovering costs. I haven't read the actual documents in Roberts case, but from what Eric describes, I have no doubt it would be easy to dismiss any claims of promise or contract.

A somewhat similar case (over ranking issues and the laughable claims being made) involving KinderStart and Google apparently continues, despite Google having actually followed through with an anti-SLAPP motion on that.

Posted by Danny Sullivan on June 5, 2006 3:39 PM