Hello everyone,

Now that Google has been forced to go public because of their great success, they have become the target of legal battles. In this Wired article (http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,64046,00.html?tw=rss.TOP), two lawsuits are mentioned. Digital Envoy (http://news.com.com/Google+hit+with+%27geo-location%27+lawsuit/2100-1032_3-5181810.html?tag=nl) is also in a legal battle with Google.

I consider the lawsuits mentioned here quite serious. These are suits that may or may not have surfaced if Google didn't have to go public but one thing you can count on - Google will deny the merit of these claims and act like the big company they are today. That doesn't mean the suits are without merit, it just means Google will end up fighting them tooth and nail.

Do any of these claims really stand a chance?

My personal take on it is that with the 3 mentioned, the Digital Envoy case may be strongest. The technology license agreement just seems like it should be clear enough for a judge to side with Digital Envoy in the case. That is assuming the spirit of the thing is clear that Google cannot use the technology the way that they are. As for the Overture suit, that is a toss up as far as my opinion is concerned but it sure would harm Google if it were to go with Overture as AdWords accounts for 95% of Google's revenue today. The Orkut suit would likely be harder to prove but would end up being a difficult thing for Google to settle and deal with if it were found to be true.

What do you think?

*cheers*
-detlev

Don't forget about the Geico lawsuit (http://news.com.com/Geico+sues+Google,+Overture+over+trademarks/2100-1024_3-5215107.html)!

Don't know if any of the claims will stand a chance but Google will continue to face lawsuits so long as they are as prominent as they are. I think anytime a company gets as large as Google, they are going to be the target of continuous lawsuits in this day and age of "I'm going to sue you."

Personally, the Digital Envoy suit seems like it's really about Digital Envoy being greedy and them being mad that they choose to license their technology so cheap.

In their own words, it's not a contract dispute, instead it's about "unfair business practices and misuse of technology".

I don't know the details about the licensing contract, but I'm not sure how they can license something, see that Google is making a huge profit with it, then come back and demand more money because of unfair business practices.

What if Microsoft licensed Windows to users, then comes back and sues them for more money claiming "unfair business practices".

Seems a bit odd to me, especially since it's not a licensing/contract dispute.

Hello everyone,

David, about Geico - true! I guess it didn't catch my attention as it wasn't decidedly pointed at Google but both Google and Overture. The Geico suit is not exactly targeted at Google because Google is going public that they now attract such attention and legal action. Of course, if Google weren't so important, Geico wouldn't have named them in the suit.

Digitalpoint, what you have written makes a lot of sense to me. I believe Digital Envoy may feel out of luck with Google making a lot of money from their (cheaply sold) technology. The words regarding the use on one Website, however, may indicate that the spirit of the contract is being broken. That may be the place where Digital Envoy can lay claim that Google is using the technology in a manner not in accordance with the contract.

It is a matter open to interpretation whether Google is using the technology to publish ads to the network and whether that constitutes using the technology on sites other than for Google.com.

*cheers*
-detlev

I agree that the contract may be open to interpretation, but Digital Envoy filed the suit in Georgia. If it's a contract dispute, it would need to be filed in California. Digital Envoy's stated reason for filing in Georgia is because it's *not* a contract dispute, and rather about "unfair business practices and misuse of technology".

So if it were an issue with how the contract/licensing was construed, it would have needed to be filed in California. So I don't think they will be able to use that argument in the court system because of where it was filed.

I see the Digital Envoy suit as more of a "Hey Google is going public with a 2 billion (or whatever) IPO, lets get ourself at the head of the que to get some of that" and does not hold any serious consequences for Google even if they lost, which seems unlikely to me.

My reasoning goes something like this:

1. The Digital Envoy suit concerns the contract between Google and Digital Envoy, and IMO that makes it a contractual dispute. Apparently a California judge thinks so too, as he has ordered the suit moved to the California courts, which would not be proper if it were an unfair business practice or patent infringement suit.

2. The Digital Envoy technology is not exactly earthshaking, in that it involves using ARIN whois lookups, traceroutes, combined with geodata about the location of ISPs, switches, etc to determine the location of a surfer. While they may claim that their method is unique, I really doubt that it will stop the use of whois or traceroute inquiries, or that there is not comparable technology in the market or that it could not be developed in such a way as to avoid their patent.

3. The Digital Envoy technology is not all that essential to Google. If it were dropped completely, it would likely mean that Googles Geotargeting Adsense ads would have to be dropped, unless and until another technolgy could be substituted. Would this really affect Google all that much? IMO it would not stop the targeting of various editions of Google being targeted to users in a specific country since this could be done simply by an IP lookup with sufficient accuracy.

Hello everyone,

I recently came across this new lawsuit. (http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/07-07-2004/0002205764&EDATE=)

The point I am trying to make here is that Google has become a target of lawsuits because of their success.

*cheers*
-detlev

Yea, as I posted at my blog (http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/000631.html), Meet Google's New Fierce Enemy:

http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/googles-fear-me.gif