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Google ducks lawsuit over search rankings

Elinor Mills Former Staff Writer
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service and the Associated Press.
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Elinor Mills

Google has dodged a lawsuit filed by a California man who claimed his Web site rankings precipitously and unfairly dropped.

Mark Roberts, who ran two protein drink sites (including MrProtein.com), sued the search engine for breach of contract (click for PDF). He represented himself in court and did not hire an attorney.

But Roberts backed down after Google's attorneys threatened to file a "SLAPP" motion against him. California has a strong SLAPP law, which is designed to discourage frivolous lawsuits and permits successful defendants to seek attorneys' fees.

Roberts had claimed that Google was negligent and breached its contract--making the unusual claim that the company's Web site-submission service constituted a binding contract.

Law professor Eric Goldman wrote that even though this lawsuit came to a premature end, the question of legal liability over search rankings remains an open one and more lawsuits could follow.