Without getting specific, I work for a marketing company that markets professional services... When a client joins our marketing program, we create a website and put it on one of the many domain names we own. We also submit the sites to DMOZ and some other directories. If a client leaves our program, we take their site off the domain name and replace them with a new client. Effectively, we are renting these domain names out.

Recently, a former client (call him John) has called us to complain that the domain he had been renting from us was still showing up #1 on searches for his business name on Google. Since the domain is now being used by one of his competitors, John is not happy.

The DMOZ listing for the site still contains info about John's business, and Google is scraping the title from DMOZ. So when you search for John's business, the first link that comes up shows the name of his business as the title, but when you click on it it takes you to a website that is promoting John's competitor (on the domain we had previously rented to him). I am sure there are probably organic links from various sites that link to the domain using John's business name as well.

I have explained to John that the best I can do for him is to try and get the DMOZ listing changed, but that they are notoriously slow to respond to these requests. Is there any other action I can take to alleviate this situation? Could my company be sued for a situation like this?

I hope I have explained this clearly.

I hate to say it, but the practical upshot is that you might be screwed. :(

The reason is two-fold:

1) although you can argue that Google has a responsibility to not misrepresent you, their SERPs have thus far been held to be an "opinion", not a legal representation. I would certainly send them an email and tell them that you prefer to have the site's description reflect the actual site (which is a reasonable request, IMO), but since the DMOZ title usage is part of their description script, it's unlikly they will program in a special exemption.

2) If you complain to DMOZ, they may very well decide that since this is a new site, the listing should be looked at as if it was a new submission - and I'm pretty sure you don't want to go down *that* road.

The concept behind using the DMOZ description is valid in principle (a description checked and edited by an independent 3rd party is more likely to be accurate), but in practice DMOZ is so far behind on that stuff that it's impractical for most businesses, which can change their identity and purpose several times during their lifespan.

It's worth a try to ask, but I would concentrate more on a "plan B" at this time.

Ian

Could my company be sued for a situation like this?In my opinion (I'm not a lawyer), most likely it would depend on what you have in your contract with your former client, John.

Since you 'rent" the domain name out, I'm assuming that you would have something in the contract with your client that you own the domain name and if they leave they don't have any rights to it. I would, at least, hope that you had something that covered that in your contract with your former client.

So, since that former client left there's really not much they can do about that domain since you own it.

Thank you for the input, gentlemen.