[x-pubpol] US judge orders hundreds of sites "de-indexed" from Google, Facebook

[Joly MacFie]

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/11/us-judge-orders-hundreds-of-sites-de-indexed-from-google-twitter-bing-facebook.ars

After a series of one-sided hearings, luxury goods maker Chanel has won
recent court orders against hundreds of websites trafficking in counterfeit
luxury goods. A federal judge in Nevada has agreed that Chanel can seize
the domain names in question and transfer them all to US-based registrar
GoDaddy. The judge also ordered "all Internet search engines" and "all
social media websites"—explicitly naming Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Bing,
Yahoo, and Google—to "de-index" the domain names and to remove them from
any search results.

The case has been a remarkable one. Concerned about counterfeiting, Chanel
has filed a joint suit in Nevada against nearly 700 domain names that
appear to have nothing in common. When Chanel finds more names, it simply
uses the same case and files new requests for more seizures. (A recent
November 14 order<http://servingnotice.com/sdv/038%20-%20Order%20Granting%20Second%20TRO.PDF>
went
after an additional 228 sites; none had a chance to contest the request
until after it was approved and the names had been seized.)

How were the sites investigated? For the most recent batch of names, Chanel
hired a Nevada investigator to order from three of the 228 sites in
question. When the orders arrived, they were reviewed by a Chanel official
and declared counterfeit. The other 225 sites were seized based on a Chanel
anti-counterfeiting specialist browsing the Web.

The actual court order (PDF) is here:

http://j.mp/v1bpai

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