Yahoo litigation
| Industry | Internet |
|---|
Yahoo! has been engaged in several legal controversies.
FindWhat.com
In May 1999, GoTo.com secured a patent titled "System and method for influencing a position on a search result list generated by a computer network search engine," which was officially granted as US Patent 6269361 in July 2001. Corresponding patents were also obtained in Australia, with additional applications pending in other regions.
Prior to Yahoo!'s acquisition of Overture, the company initiated infringement lawsuits under this patent against FindWhat.com in January 2002 and later against Google in April 2002.
The legal action focused on Google's AdWords platform, particularly the AdWords Select feature launched in February 2002, which enabled advertisers to bid for premium placement of their ads—mirroring Overture's auction-based search listing model.
Following Yahoo!'s purchase of Overture, the conflict was resolved when Google transferred 2.7 million shares of common stock to Yahoo! in exchange for a perpetual licensing agreement.
On March 12, 2012, Yahoo! initiated a lawsuit against Facebook, alleging infringement of ten of its patents.
Geocities
In 1999, GeoCities was subject to an FTC complaint accusing it of violating the Federal Trade Commission Act through deceptive privacy practices. The FTC determined that GeoCities had misrepresented how it used personal information collected from over 1.8 million users—referred to as "homesteaders"—who signed up for free homepages and email accounts.
Contrary to privacy assurances stated on its website and New Member Application Form, GeoCities permitted third-party advertisers to target users by utilizing personally identifiable information gathered during registration. The company also sold this data without obtaining user consent, breaching FTC regulations.
As a result, a consent decree was issued forbidding GeoCities from misrepresenting its data collection or sharing policies and prohibiting it from collecting personal information from children without parental authorization.
Wang Xiaoning and Shi Tao
On April 18, 2007, Yu Ling, wife of Wang Xiaoning, filed a human rights lawsuit against Yahoo! in federal court in San Francisco, California, invoking statutes such as the Alien Torts Statute and the Torture Victim Protection Act. Both Wang and Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist convicted for sending government instructions about the Tiananmen Square anniversary via email, were plaintiffs. Their punishments followed after Yahoo!’s Chinese division disclosed their identifying details to Chinese authorities.
The case was brought forward by the World Organization for Human Rights USA. Morton Sklar, then serving as Executive Director, condemned Yahoo! for what he described as "corporate irresponsibility," emphasizing that the company was aware that providing such information would result in arrests.
In 2006, Yahoo! executives testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs asserting they were unaware of the charges against Shi Tao when they released his data. However, evidence from the litigation demonstrated that Yahoo! knew about these charges yet still disclosed his identity.
In November 2007, Yahoo! representatives appeared again before the bipartisan committee in Congress. Representative Tom Lantos, Chair of the committee, criticized Yahoo!’s failure to amend its prior testimony as either negligent or intentionally misleading. He directed CEO Jerry Yang and General Counsel Michael Callahan to issue public apologies to the families of those detained, which they complied with. Shortly thereafter, Yahoo! reached a settlement in the case.
Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning remain incarcerated.
Pincus v. Yahoo! Inc.
Pincus v. Yahoo! Inc., case number 13-cv-05326, was initiated in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California located in San Jose, California. The plaintiff, Brian Pincus, pursued a class-action lawsuit on behalf of individuals who were not Yahoo customers but whose email addresses were purportedly intercepted by Yahoo! to facilitate targeted advertising and boost company profits.