UPDATED 13:18 EDT / NOVEMBER 04 2011

Google Faces Lawsuit by Chicago Doctors over Negative Online Reviews

Two Chicago doctors have recently filed a lawsuit against Google due to negative online reviews written against them. The story started when an Illinois woman complained on the internet that her plastic surgery resulted in facial lumps, and this plastic surgery was performed by none other than these Chicago doctors- John and Jane Doe.  According to the complaint filed by doctor duo in Chicago Federal Court, they suffered loss of income and reputation after Google refused their requests to take down reviews as they believe are false and injurious.

What these doctors are talking about is the Google Places app that allows users to find and rate local businesses, lets users assign a star ranking, post comments, and also includes links to other review sites.

Well, this is not the first time that Google has faced lawsuits of a similar nature, as cases were imposed on the search giant in the past. Just last month, the complaining party was Yelp. The local search engine used to get heavy traffic from Google but since the internet search giant launched Places, a service that offers a service similar to Yelp after the Google-Yelp acquisition fell through, Yelp results became second to Google Places results.  Representatives from Google competitors are also set to appear in court to present their case.

Another case took place a few days prior, when California’s 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a complaint brought by a roofing company over derogatory comments posted on a Google-related site.

So at this time, the search giant is facing lots of anti-trust issues, which may (or may not_ affect its own reputation.  Google’s no stranger to anti-trust suits and has a way of defending its systems in court, so we’ll have to wait and see how these turn out.


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