Google files lawsuits against companies that it claims mislead businesses about their Google listings.
If your phone number is associated with a business, there’s a great chance you’ve been on the receiving end of telemarketing calls or robocalls like this. The caller usually claims to be affiliated with Google or Google itself.
Google has fought back against some of these companies in the past, and it is turning to the courts again in an effort to take stop several other companies it alleges are misleading consumers.
The search giant filed one lawsuit in California and two lawsuits in Florida.
The California suit is against Kydia, Inc., d/b/a BeyondMenu. Google alleges (pdf) that the company is misleading restaurant owners in an effort to get access to their Google listing and link to BeyondMenu’s restaurant ordering service rather than directly to the restaurant’s site.
The Florida lawsuits (pdf, pdf) name the following companies:
Supreme Marketing Group d/b/a Small Business Solution and d/b/a Claim My Biz
Pointbreak Media LLC, d/b/a Point Break Solutions and Kivanni Marketing
Modern Source Media, LLC
Modern Spotlight Group, LLC
Modern Spotlight, LLC
Perfect Image Online
Looking back at the case filed against Local Lighthouse in 2015, it appears that Local Lighthouse admitted its actions and agreed to not do it anymore…but I don’t see any financial penalty in the judgment (pdf). Unless Google brings down the hammer on companies that do this, they will continue to proliferate.
I hope Google drops a piano on their collective parasitic heads.