Judge dismisses suit over Google ranking

from cnet.com

California judge on Thursday dismissed a Web site’s lawsuit against Google over its fall in the Google search index, but left the door open for the lawsuit to be amended and refiled.

KinderStart, a directory and search engine for information related to children, sued Google in March after it fell to a “zero” ranking in the Google index. The lawsuit claimed that by lowering KinderStart’s site in its PageRank system, Google had engaged in “pervasive monopolistic practices” that led to the denial of the site’s free speech rights, prevention and destruction of competition, and predatory pricing, among nine counts total.

As a result of the drop in ranking, traffic and monthly page views to KinderStart’s Web site fell 70 percent or more and the company’s revenue from advertisements through Google’s AdSense syndication program fell by more than 80 percent, according to the lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel for the Northern District in San Jose dismissed all nine claims, saying that KinderStart’s claims were insufficient or failed to allege facts or conduct to support that the claims or were too vague.

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