4 ms·
Ask HN: Why wasn't Rapportive ever sued by Google?
Their plugin replaces the Google Adwords ads with their own content. Google released a competing widget; why not just sue? Wouldn't Google have a case for they are directly interfering with their revenue stream? I am interested in creating my own Gmail plugin but would like to know the legalities behind this first.
- staunch 15y agoGoogle couldn't win a lawsuit against a company that sold pieces of cardboard that fit over a monitor to block ads. Same thing for Rapportive, which doesn't remove any ads itself, they simply offer users a tool that happens to do that as part of its functionality. Also, Google is simply not a very litigious company. They would be much more likely to engage in a technical game of cat and mouse (e.g. make it hard to remove the ads) than sue someone. I wouldn't be worried about creating something like Rapportive. At worst you're like a company that sells lock picks. The onus is on your customers to stay within the bounds of the law (or ToS).
- chrisfarms 15y agoI think it's actually the "users" of rapportive who are breaking the terms of service, not rapportive.
- rollypolly 15y agoI'm glad Google doesn't apply RIAA-logic, or Rapportive users would be in trouble.
- rsiqueira 15y agoPaul Buchheit (the creator of Gmail) is investor in Rapportive: http://angel.co/buchheit/activity/5dG6n http://angel.co/buchheit/activity/5dG6n
- ig1 15y agoIf Google wanted to block Rapportive they could have just done it with code trivially. It just didn't bother Google enough for them to do it.
- petervandijck 15y agoIt's not worth the bad publicity for them. Also, I suspect they don't make a lot of money of those ads altogether.
- thefahim 15y agoAlso a possibility: They did not sue because the cost of litigation is more than the revenue lost from the widget.