Search Results for: kinderstart

Google probably couldn’t have asked for a better ruling in the ongoing KinderStart law suit.

Not only did the judge throw out KinderStart’s most recent attempt to accuse Google of defamation – by reducing its PageRanl to zero – but the judge decided to give Google every opportunity to get some payback.

Judge Jeremy Fogel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed a lawsuit against Google by parenting information site KinderStart…[he] also imposed yet-to-be-determined sanctions on KinderStart legal counsel Gregory Yu for making unsupported allegations against Google.

According to the judge’s ruling, “KinderStart had failed to explain how Google caused injury to it by a provably false statement … as distinguished from an unfavorable opinion about KinderStart.com’s importance.”

KinderStart’s legal counsel is probably looking for a change of diapers about now (sorry couldn’t resist the parenting pun)…

The Kinderstart.com case has taken an interesting twist, as the judge decides whether receiving a 0/10 PageRank penalty from Google equate to the legal definition of defamation.

The judge asked whether Google has a free speech right to prioritize some sites over others in how it constructs computer formulas in its search system. “Assuming Google is saying that KinderStart’s Web site isn’t worth seeing. Why can’t they say that? That’s my question,” Fogel said.

Kinderstart is obviously grasping at straws here. If the judge rules that indeed a Google penalty equals defamation, that would set a dangerous precedent. It would take a brave judge to start interfering with what Google can and cannot do to search rankings.