Google Sued Over Safe Shopping Feature
Google is being sued by Buysafe, a secure online transaction provider, which claims that Google maliciously extracted its business information and is now rolling out a technology based on that information.
According to Buysafe, Google's Trusted Stores program is modeled after Buysafe and has been built using the information of a executive previously employed by a Buysafe partner, which held "extensive" discussions with Buysafe and obtained substantial business information as a result.
Buysafe's claims are covered by a patent the company filed in 2003 and received in early 2010. Entitled "Safe transaction guarantee" the document describes safe transactions without the use of escrow or bond procedures. According to the allegations mentioned in the lawsuit, Google previously sought to enter a partnership or Jointventure with Buysafe in 2006 and 2008, but the negotiations were unsuccessful. Buysafe noted that Trusted Stores has only seen a limited rollout so far, but it was enough to slow down the company's growth already.
In a spicy twist, Buysafe also accuses Google of luring Buysafe customers away by confirming that their participation will have a positive effect on how their company surfaces in search results and even offered customers free service if they switch from Buysafe.
Buysafe is asking to be awarded triple damages as well as a ruling that will prevent Google from using and fully rolling out Trusted Stores.
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Am I the only one who thinks it's quite sad that every page of articles on THG has at least one article concerning patents and lawsuits?
THG doesn't make the news, they just report it.
can someone tell me what these do? Because really what it sounds like just by reading this is that buysafe is kind of a bank like thing, and certain stores are ones that won't rip you off.
google has so much cash it will just "buy" buysafe.lol
They have patented safety.
"competition" got sued out of existance lol....
I want to get a patent for innovation and word it as "the process of making things/processes better or making new things/processes"..... if i couldn't get that one I could always try to patent "patent trolling"
THG doesn't make the news, they just report it.
Not exactly true.
By selecting what incident you report and what you do not report you inject a certain bias into the 'news'. Not necessarily on purpose, but it happens as editors are only humans too.
google has so much cash it will just "buy" buysafe.lol
I think that's what this is about. Two previous 'negotiations' where not successful... sounds to me like Google did not offer enough $$$. So not it is round 3 of the negotiations :-)
I want to get a patent for innovation and word it as "the process of making things/processes better or making new things/processes"..... if i couldn't get that one I could always try to patent "patent trolling"
IBM has been trying to patent "patent trolling" for years now and keeps getting rejected, so you will have a fight getting that one.
What the bloody hell happened to "competition"?
It's banned, competition is infringing of patents
From my understanding, I do think that Google is at fault.
It's hardly fair competition if your competitor can essentially blacklist you from search results and use its endless cash backing to starve your only business model into non-existence. Add on top of that the blatant and arrogant disregard of your patents by them, since they can keep any court case tied up long enough for you to be first thrown onto the street begging for cash.
google definitely has many monopoly-like attributes; and they are using them to their fullest. don't be dull by believing otherwise.
Somehow, very convincing when Google becomes involved...
If it's true that an executive from one of my business partners left to join another company who then mysteriously deployed a competing product using those ideas, then I really feel for this company.
Anyone who doesn't think this kind of thing goes on in the corporate world is extremely naive.
Yes, we're all fed up of hearing about patent suits. But it's important that we remember the patent system is also there to protect and safeguard innovation and ideas from being ripped off - particularly when there is a larger company involved that have the assets and finances to give them an advantage.