Competitor Sued for Placing Ads on Google Yahoo: related news

Competitor Sued for Placing Ads on Google, Yahoo

In a case that spotlights the growing importance of search engines to commerce, NameSafe has sued a competitor, LifeLock, for trademark infringement involving ads placed next to search results. NameSafe, which like LifeLock sells services designed to protect customers against identity theft, alleged its rival used NameSafe's name in deceptive search ads on Google, Yahoo, and other search engines.

Google, Microsoft And Yahoo Sued In India For Not Preventing Sex Selection Ads

India unfortunately doesn't have the equivalent of section 230 of the CDA, which prevents service providers from being sued for the actions of their users. That's why Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are all facing a lawsuit over certain types of ads in India. Apparently it's illegal in India to advertise any technique or product designed to influence the sex of a child. However, such ads have been appearing on all three sites. The problem, though, is that the liability should be on those who are actually buying the advertising. They're the parties who are really breaking the law. Yet, because Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are easier targets (and have a lot more money), that's who gets targeted.

Google Chrome, the Google Browser

Philipp Lenssen writes "Google announced their very own browser project called Google Chrome — an announcement in the form of a comic book drawn by Scott McCloud, no less. Google says Google Chrome will be open source, include a new JavaScript virtual machine, include the Google Gears add-on by default, and put the tabs above the address bar (not below), among other things. I've also uploaded Google's comic book with all the details (details given from Google's perspective, anyway... let's see how this holds up). While Google provided the URL www.google.com/chrome there's nothing up there yet."

Google's Big Mistake - Getting Rid of Google Page Creator

Are you kidding me? Google getting rid of Google Page Creator, this must be a joke. No, it's for real. Google says they're going to be transitioning all Google Page Creator websites into their new Google Sites. Excuse me, but Google Sites doesn't come close to being as good as Google Page Creator. Why in the world would Google choose to keep the lesser of the two?

MS, Yahoo! and Google

The ladies and (especially) gentlemen of Microsoft, Yahoo! and Google trooped into the US Congress to inform US politicians about how good and how bad and how anti-competitive the Yahoo!-Google advert deal is; Yahoo! got things off with a joke by their lawyer Michael Callahan that was pretty funny but disrespectful: ''With all due respect to Google, we have every expectation of fighting them and winning;'' Brad Smith, Microsoft solicitor, explained to the congresspeople that if search is the key to the Internet, as ''many'' believe, then ''this deal will put Google in a position to own that gateway and the information that flows through it''; so it's probably fair to say that when Microsoft takes over Yahoo!, this deal will follow the dodo and other extinct species.

Google, Yahoo allow users to opt out of targeted advertisements

The ongoing US Congress investigation into online advertising seems to be having an effect on some of the companies as Google and Yahoo announced plans to allow users to opt out of targeted promotions on the Internet. While Yahoo announced a new one-click opt-out policy yesterday, Google made it possible to opt out of both Google and Doubleclick ad targeting with one click the day before. (See: US Congress investigates Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, over internet data collection)

Microsoft, Google fight over Yahoo!

WASHINGTON: Google and Microsoft will spar today at a congressional hearing called to examine whether Google's revenue-sharing deal with No 2 search rival Yahoo will harm competition. Google, with more than 60 per cent of the Web search market, and Yahoo, with 16.6 per cent, announced a deal on June 12 that would allow Yahoo to place Google advertisements on its site and collect the revenue.

Microsoft Parrots Google In Suggesting Tie-Up With Yahoo Violates Antitrust Laws

Back in February, we pointed out that Google was playing with fire in suggesting that a Microsoft-Yahoo merger would violate antitrust laws. It seemed fairly obvious that those statements would come back to haunt Google -- a company many others have been accusing of antitrust violations. And, indeed, even with Microsoft still trying to buy Yahoo, Microsoft is now making nearly identical antitrust claims against Google concerning its ad deal with Yahoo. It's all legal posturing, of course, in an attempt to get the government to annoy a competitor. As Declan McCullagh points out at the link above, if either company really believes that the other was violating antitrust laws, it's perfectly free to file a private antitrust lawsuit. But, instead, both companies are playing a game in trying to get the government to be a pest for the other -- a

Justice Dept. Launches Formal Probe of Google-Yahoo Ad Deal

Washington - The U.S. Department of Justice has announced a formal probe of Yahoo's (NASD: YHOO) proposed online advertising partnership with Google (NASD: GOOG), and will seek documents and information from third party companies with a vested interest in the sector, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday. Google and Yahoo had agreed to voluntarily delay the deal -- which would see Google serve ads against Yahoo search results -- while the Justice Dept. made an informal inquiry, "but a formal investigation signals that the department may have found some cause for concern," The Post reported.

Google Sued For Patent Infringement For Keeping Track Of How Many Ads People Click On

It still seems rather amusing (if not twisted) that some patent system supporters are trying to convince the world Google would be harmed by an absence of software patents. Instead, it seems increasingly obvious that it would only serve to help Google, who is a regular target of questionable patent infringement lawsuits. Take the latest such case as an example. A company by the name of Web Tracking Solutions, which ironically enough, doesn't appear to have much of a web presence (if any), has sued Google for patent infringement, claiming that its patent on third-party on-line accounting systems is being violated by Google's AdSense offering.

Yahoo-Google deal comes under fire from Microsoft

A proposed online search advertising deal between Yahoo and Google came under fire at a US senate hearing as Microsoft claimed that Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang had himself admitted that the agreement would hurt competition. Speaking before the senate's judiciary committee, Microsoft's general counsel Brad Smith recounted a June 8 meeting at the San Jose airport involving Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and other company executives during which Yang allegedly said a Google-Yahoo deal would be anti-competitive.

Verizon and Google Close To Mobile Search Deal - Google is coming to a phone near you

Google and Verizon have often been on opposing sides of deals and issues (like those issues that arose during the 700 Mhz spectrum earlier this year). However it looks like the two companies are about to put the past behind them as they are rumored to be nearing a deal which would make Google the default search engine on all Verizon phones. The two companies would split ad revenue so that both would benefit. The deal has not been commented on by either party but sources say that a major point of contention is that Google seeks to save user search information in order to improve targeted ads and Verizon wants to keep that data to itself. Google is already the default search engine for Sprint phones and has a search partnership with Nokia plus the first Android phone has just gotten FCC approval so this is another step for Google towards do

Update: Yahoo-Google partnership reportedly under DOJ scrutiny

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has opened a formal antitrust investigation into the advertising partnership between Yahoo and Google, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. On June 12, Yahoo said it would run advertisements supplied by Google alongside search query results, a four-year deal estimated to bring Yahoo up to $800 million in revenue a year. "We are continuing to have cooperative discussions with the Department of Justice about this arrangement," Google said in a statement.

Microsoft-Yahoo turmoil ends up good for Google

While the Microsoft bid to buy Yahoo is long gone, its results seem to be lingering, as both Microsoft and Yahoo have lost search market share to Google since the failed merger was announced nearly 6 months ago. The Hitwise numbers--showing Google with 70.7% market share--just underscore how far both Microsoft and Yahoo (nevermind Cuil) need to go in order to break into Google's search lead. That 70.7% number could be a turning point.

Microsoft testifies Google-Yahoo "anti-competitive"...

Microsoft today argued that US House and Senate Judiciary Committees that the proposed Google/Yahoo deal, claiming that Yahoo's agreement to support ads through a non-exclusive deal is anti-competitive and would allegedly hurt innovation. The legal counsel for Microsoft, Brad Smith, expresses fears that Google would control as much as 90 percent of online advertising, allowing it to dictate prices and force companies to advertise through it for proper exposure. He also warns that Google could potentially have a monopoly on Internet services.

Yahoo! Announces New Privacy Choice

Yahoo! Inc. announced that it will offer users the ability to opt-out of customized advertising on Yahoo.com. This new option expands Yahoo!'s existing opt-out program for customized advertising served by Yahoo! on third party networks. Yahoo! announced the new opt-out capability as part of its response to a Congressional inquiry about customization sent to 33 companies from the House Energy and Commerce Committee. This new opt-out capability is expected to be available for consumers by the end of August. Users will be able to access the opt-out in the Yahoo! privacy center, which is linked on the home page and nearly every page on the Yahoo! network.

Google URL Index Hits 1 Trillion

mytrip points out news that Google's index of unique URLs has reached a milestone: one trillion. Google's blog provides some more information, noting, "The first Google index in 1998 already had 26 million pages, and by 2000 the Google index reached the one billion mark. Over the last eight years, we've seen a lot of big numbers about how much content is really out there. To keep up with this volume of information, our systems have come a long way since the first set of web data Google processed to answer queries. Back then, we did everything in batches: one workstation could compute the PageRank graph on 26 million pages in a couple of hours, and that set of pages would be used as Google's index for a fixed period of time. Today, Google downloads the web continuously, collecting updated page information and re-processing the entire web-l

As Sold by Google, Ads on Yahoo Could Cost 22 Percent More

It’s not a surprise that search advertisers are wary of Yahoo’s deal to have some of its search ads sold by Google. After all, that extra money that Yahoo is hoping to get from the arrangement is coming from somewhere: the pocketbooks of advertisers.

Indian Court Demands Google Hand Over Anonymous Blogger's Identity

It would appear that Google is discovering some of the differences in the legal system in India as compared to the US. Just after we wrote about how Google (along with Microsoft and Yahoo) were sued over ads, there are some stories coming out about how an Indian court has ordered Google to hand over the identity of an anonymous blogger who was criticizing an Indian company, Gremach Infrastructure Equipments & Projects Ltd. While anonymous speech is somewhat protected (within certain limits) in the US, that's not the case in many other countries. As the link above notes, this may force Google to change the way it does business in India.

Microsoft, Google, Yahoo Sued for Sex Selection Ads in India

Microsoft, Google and Yahoo were issued notices by India's Supreme Court on Wednesday, following a complaint that they were promoting techniques and products for the selection of an unborn child's sex through advertising and links on their search engines. There is a deliberate attempt by these companies to target Indian users with advertisements that claim to help in the selection of a child's sex, said Sabu Mathew George, the petitioner in the case, in a telephone interview on Thursday.

Google-Yahoo deal to start in October

Optimism is the watchword at Google when it comes to its upcoming ad-sharing deal with Yahoo. In an interview on Bloomberg TV, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said Google plans to go ahead with the deal in October. By then, the 3.5 months Google agreed to wait for the Justice Department to scrutinize the pact will have passed.

Google to Go Ahead with Yahoo Deal

Awaiting U.S. government approval, Google says it is trying to move forward with a deal to place Google search ads on the number two search engine, Yahoo, an indication that Google is pushing for this deal to obtain approval as quickly as possible.

On Eve Of Senate Hearings, Subpoenas Sent Out For Info On Yahoo And Google

Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) arrive on Capitol Hill tomorrow, set to defend (or more likely explain) their search ad deal to camera-hungry Senators. Also testifying the hearing (10:30 AM ET) will be representatives from Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), Yellowpages.com and Askthebuilder.com (presumably brought in to get the little guy’s view). Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond will point out, according to a prepared statement seen by MarketWatch, that the agreement does not expand Google’s share of the search market, and that the alternative outcome, Yahoo selling to Microsoft, would be much worse for competition.

Google-Yahoo deal may up Yahoo`s pay-per-click ad rates, search firm says

Yahoo’s proposed search advertising partnership with Google could raise the average price of a pay-per-click ad on Yahoo by 22%, says search marketing firm SearchIgnite. But the impact on a given retailer will depend on the kind of search terms it buys.

Government Looks Into Google-Yahoo! Deal

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Congress began hearings to examine the potential antitrust implications of the recent deal between Google and Yahoo! that will allow Google to supply search ads to Yahoo!, reported AdAge.com. At the same time, about a dozen state attorneys have begun examining the ad deal as well.

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