Another Google Lawsuit Moves Forward

from the contractual-terms... dept

Google's lawyers seem awfully busy these days. The latest is with a lawsuit that was filed last year accusing Google of misusing a technology they had licensed. The technology in question helped Google pinpoint where surfers were located physically. They had licensed the technology for AdWords ads, to provide more locally targeted ads... but the contract apparently wasn't worded clearly. When Google started offering AdSense ads on other sites, they kept using the technology, assuming it was covered by the license agreement. Perhaps they should have asked first. The company, Digital Envoy, obviously sensing an opportunity to upsell and get more money out of the search giant, says that using the technology on other sites constitutes: 'sharing,' 'distributing,' or 'otherwise making available,' the technology -- which is forbidden by the contract. Still, Google may have the stronger case here -- as the technology is still served off their own servers, and the other sites have no control over it whatsoever. However, the court found that there wasn't enough evidence to give a summary judgment in favor of Google, and the case will now go to trial, unless some sort of settlement is worked out first.

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