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Lawsuit Against Google Dismissed

Posted by kdawson on from the and-a-pony dept.

Weather Storm writes in with news from PCWorld that a US District Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against Google by a company that accused them of manipulating search results for political and religious reasons and skewing results in favor of companies that compensate Google financially. The lawsuit (discussed on Slashdot last year) was filed by KinderStart, a parenting information Web site that claims it was illegally blocked from Google search results. The judge not only dismissed the lawsuit but granted a motion by Google to sanction KinderStart and one of its lawyers. Google can now seek "reasonable compensation" for attorney fees because KinderStart's lawyer filed claims that were factually baseless and did not perform an adequate investigation before filing the lawsuit.

3 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. Wait, maybe I missed something by malkir · · Score: 5, Informative

    I RTFA'd, and checking out KinderStart.com I noticed that KinderStart is just a search engine *for kids*, meaning that they remove things that they believe are not 'ok' for children to see...
    ...and their bitching about Google skewing their search results?

  2. Re:Go to your room! by Seumas · · Score: 2, Informative

    How is this dude's comment a troll?!

  3. Re:I never understood by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Why people feel that Google is obligated to do anything with their search results. They have the right to censor their search results however they like - their search results do not affect the existence of actual websites.
    The bundling of IE with Windows didn't negate the existance of Netscape nor the ability to install it.
    Once a company reaches a certain level of dominance it then takes on additional scrutiny. Google has just about reached a point where it could control the ability for a commercial website to succeed. With that power, practices like changing search results based on how much money they receive could be seen as coercive.