When you own two-thirds of all Internet search -- as Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) does, per comScore Inc. -- you may expect a big bullseye on your back as part of achieving such dominance.
At least, that appears to be the case for Google, which singlehandedly is a kind of lawyers’ relief organization.
There are literally hundreds of suits proceeding against Google, maybe thousands, and they range from the trivial (including a nominee for “worst lawsuit of 2010”) to cases that get at the very heart of what the Internet is and should be in the 21st century.
Memo to incoming Google CEO Larry Page: You might want to investigate just why Google is involved in so many cases, such as the following...
EU vs. Google: Does Google give priority placement to AdWords buyers? This is not a suit yet, but The New York Times reports that the European Union -- as part of ongoing antitrust investigations into Google -- has circulated questionnaires looking for links between buying ads and more visibility in search results. This could get very messy if evidence of links emerges.
Buzzing about Buzz: Does Buzz breach your privacy? A Manitoba man filed suit claiming exactly that. He says he declined enrollment in Buzz, but Google set up a Buzz profile on him anyway, exposing info he deems private to the public. The case is interesting, because aren’t we all Buzz users (and did we volunteer)?
DoJ vs. Google: Most observers are puzzled by the DoJ threat to block Google’s ITA acquisition, but the merger could have a huge effect on travel search, especially regarding air fares.
More bad news on the antitrust front comes from the interest of bulldog lawyer Gary Reback -- who brought considerable grief to Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) over anti-trust issues -- in persuading the DoJ to open broad investigations into what Reback sees as a pattern of anti-competitive actions by Google.
Google vs. US Dept of Interior: A judge blocked a Department of the Interior RFP in early January, after Google alleged that the bidding for a contract worth over $59 million was rigged in favor of Microsoft. Google very much wants to go toe-to-toe against Microsoft in public sector bids, and in this suit Google fired a very loud warning shot across the government’s bow.
Paul Allen vs. Google (and just about everybody else): The Microsoft co-founder’s initial suit was tossed out in August, but in late December his company, Interval Research, was back in court with an amended suit alleging that Google -- along with Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO), and others -- infringes key patents owned by Interval that govern how news, movies, and more are displayed on Websites. This suit could hit, not just Google, but everybody’s Web experience. Is Allen just a patent troll? Very hard to say, but experts are sure the defendants are in for a long and expensive ride in court before decisions are rendered.
Google and the Pirates: Google recently filed an amicus brief supporting MP3Tunes in its case against music publisher EMI. Michael Robertson, founder of the MP3 site, says, “This will be a defining case about the future of cloud services.”
The World vs. Google Street View: Google’s hoovering up of private info from unsecured WiFi networks while assembling Street View databases has triggered at least eight (count 'em, 8!) class action suits. This will be another long and expensive slog through the judicial system for Google (not to mention the continuing bad press).
Google vs. iLOR: This is an ugly suit that has kicked around the courts in Kentucky since 2007. The plaintiff, a firm that makes software for manufacturer quotes, alleges that Google’s Notebook tools infringe on patents it owns. A Federal Circuit Appeals court recently ruled that Google had not achieved the high level of proof needed to make a label of “frivolous” stick to this suit. Observers see it going to the Supreme Court.
Worst Lawsuit Award: Google made the shortlist in a US Chamber of Commerce selection of candidates for worst lawsuit of 2010. Lauren Rosenberg of Northridge, Calif., used a Google Map while strolling around Park City, Utah, and apparently got hit by a car. So she sued Google.
Having a bullseye on your back can indeed get expensive.
— Robert McGarvey is a widely published author and expert on social media.
The list of lawsuits is really long, Google would definitely need to have a proper strategy to deal with them. I just hope it would not let them loose focus and that consumers do not become the victims in the end.
Scrolling through the list of lawsuits which Google is currently facing its amazing to see the extent to which the colossus called Google has now come to dominate our lives online.
Yes its true they are invading our privacy(and even questioning it in many instances through their various products) but is'nt that what Google has always been about-Information which was private for so long is now Openly available online(Google is just aggregating it better so the world can see it for all posterity).
Not exactly a bad reason to file lawsuits against them.
Still as you so rightly point out ,people's perception about what constitutes public and what constitutes Private(and therefore sacrosant) information is starting to change and since Google remains in the forefront of the change here,Google will always have a big Bullseye on their backs...
"Lauren Rosenberg of Northridge, Calif., used a Google Map while strolling around Park City, Utah, and apparently got hit by a car. So she sued Google"
The Google Maps app on my phone does say "Do not use Google Maps while driving". I believe pretty soon they might add "walking" to this warning as well :)
Now it seems Google is getting a bigger pie of the lawsuits against tech firms as was the case with MSFT in the previous years. Can you share with us what has been the effects of these lawsuits on the evolution of these tech firms. What would MSFT be like without the many anti-trust lawsuits gaiant them over the years? Have anti-trust lawsuits have any significant ramifications in shaping the world of technology as we know it today?
I tend to belive that davances in world of technology as we knowmit today is primarily down to the smartness of the engineers and market forces. But does these biggest lawsuits have any meaningful contribution to the advancement of technology?
If you think the many lawsuits do not impede impede technological advances, then it means you believe that they aided technological advancement. But the truth is that the courst are no research labs and certainly not the kind of places that’s going to turn out new technological advances.
If my memory serves me well, there wasantitrust lawsuit against MSFT by the U.S. government wherein the court arbitrated that MSFT should be divide into two companies: one to work on Windows, the other to produce software components. Imagine what would have happened if MSFT has not appeal that ruling and the ruling was implemented? The world of computer technology could well have looked very different indeed!
My point here is that Google and other big tech compnies have the financial muslce to fight these lawsuits but who really stand to gain from these lawsuits?It's certainly not the consumers. May be rival competitors and of course the judges who can now dictate the way technology evolves and affect users.
I might chip in that though these companies are usually prepared for these suits budgetwise and with good lawyers, such suits act as checks to impunitive actions in while the advancement of technology. They check that these companies do not outrightly oppress other players in the industry and do not outrightly abuse consumer rights. These we could say leads to a generally ethical setting in the technological arena without which we would have quite a different society - negatively.
Companies like Google are hit with so many lawsuits it is difficult to generalize...but the ones that are most harmful, I think, are the suits that depict the company as a bad actor, unethical, not in alignment with larger goods. Those suits hit recruiting and a Google is only as good as its hires are smart.
Some suits, btw, ARE in the public interest.
Others are silly, trivial.
Still others are filed out of greed (patent trolls) and self-interest.
I last wrote about the need for tort reform perhaps 5 years ago - nothing has gotten better
I might chip in that though these companies are usually prepared for these suits budgetwise and with good lawyers, such suits act as checks to impunitive actions in while the advancement of technology. They check that these companies do not outrightly oppress other players in the industry and do not outrightly abuse consumer rights. These we could say leads to a generally ethical setting in the technological arena without which we would have quite a different society - negatively.
I suppose you couldn't include all of the lawsuits against Google for they reproduce like the famous Tribbles from TOS Star Trek. And indeed, they will continue so...
A sad memory comes to my mind when a great fire affected a big hotel in Puerto Rico. As soon as the next day scores of lawyers from almost everywhere came to the island and started broadcasting their availability to suit almost everyone in sight. Even the then Governor, a great lawyer himself, screamed and denounced this people acting as vultures. (He should knew). Everything on sight was sued: the carpet manufacturers, the soap manufacturers, i.e., whatever was there. A very noted issue was a suit against one of the big manufacturers of vacuum cleaners although no evidence was involving any fault by the machines. When their lawyer arrived they were simply told in court that the manufacturer was suited for the simple reason that the machines were there in some rooms some of which, interestingly, didn't caught fire.
So as soon as we get to the lawyers and the possibility of a suit, nobody really knows what the $%^&! is going on or where all this will end. Most probably there are right now big law firms evaluating law students that may already be involved in research on issues pertaining Google in law school.
This is our system at its insanely best! Nice to be posted on this Robert. Who knows what the next big case be? Maybe I may be inflicting damage to someone by actually choosing to use any other search machine.
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