I suspect datadial know exactly what they're doing here - as revenge for this alleged petty act by the lawyers they're now google-bombing the term shopzilla (by deliberately including so many refs to shopzilla in this new blog post), and hoping to teach them a lesson about who is in control of links. They're already on the second page for a simple search for shopzilla, and I'd expect them to move up closer to the top if this gets more publicity and links in from other sites. Does it deserve it?<p>A very strange attempt by Shopzilla in the first place to control links to them, so it would be interesting to hear their side of this story. I looked up datadial - they're a London SEO shop, and their original blog post is typical of SEO blogs - lots of links to random sites strung together into a blog post to boost their blog's ranking for that topic - ecommerce in this case. I have to wonder if this little storm in a teacup isn't more beneficial to them the more absurd it sounds and the stormier it gets - even if it dies down later the benefit will still be there for them.<p>It's strange to see the court of public opinion function on sites like reddit and HN - the more controversial and snappier the original post, the more traction it gets, and nuances and truth are lost in the rush to condemn based on a very limited set of facts.
That's a clever ploy to get some eyeballs out of a legal case that isn't worth the paper it is printed on.<p>But if some company is hell bent on suing you for linking to them and you want to get mileage out of it by going to the media with the story you're going to have to weigh your options carefully. Just remove the link, problem goes away no need for legal representation and you get on with your life.<p>Or you milk it for all it is worth, eventually go to court and you're vindicated in your laymans interpretation of the law. Or you find that the court - for whatever reason - sides with your opponent. Now you have a problem, and don't say it can not happen, there is no such thing as a slam-dunk lawsuit.<p>Pick your battles, carefully and make sure that you make the right choice.<p>In this particular case I think the plaintiff is dead wrong, they don't have a leg to stand on but it could still cost you a lot of time, money and effort to prove that and in the end it is <i>their</i> loss not yours if they lose their link.<p>For more information:<p><a href="http://searchengineland.com/in-wake-of-penguin-could-you-be-sued-for-linking-to-others-121449" rel="nofollow">http://searchengineland.com/in-wake-of-penguin-could-you-be-...</a>
The hyperbole and tone of the article is difficult to read through.<p>Have you thought about writing a simple letter to the solicitors saying something like "Hello, you sent us a letter. Would you like to review our webpage here to see if we actually are infringing on your client's trademark? We seem to have been caught in some automatic system."<p>Be careful about 'no legal reason to take down an url' - there are a few. DMCA requests, anti-deeplinking causes in ToS / AUP, etc etc. See the Shetland Times vs Shetland News.
Shopzilla probably has bad links that are driving down its SEO and page rank on Google and they are trying to get low quality sites to remove those bad links. It is totally OK for them to want to have links removed to their site, since some of them may be damaging their SEO and hence their earnings. Maybe the method used is a little over the top, but there is probably nothing wrong with their intentions.<p>If someone asks you to remove a link to their site in a post where you criticized them, I would feel uncomfortable with it, but in this case you and them are acting in good faith, just remove the link. That they used a lawyer just means they really want you to remove the link.<p>Edit: Uh oh, looks like this innocuous reply is not compatible with uncritical outraged HN readers looking to punish someone, anything for all the bad things Shopzilla has done to them and the world. Let the downvotes commence I guess.
This is so absurd that it is probably a scam. You should make sure that "Fox Williams LLP" was actually the sender of this note and that they represent Shopzilla (you should contact them).
First time I've seen a business not want to be given free advertising.<p>But instead of just giving them a call (it's not difficult, they're both UK based) they're going to Streisand themselves some negative PR.<p>I'll wait for the statement from Shopzilla's top brass, just to see if it's ran by 1000 monkeys on computers.
I know a couple of the people at Shopzilla, and they're not idiots. However, it should be borne in mind that Shopzilla belongs to EWScripps who aren't idiots either, but do have the money to prosecute a case for a very long time indeed if they are so inclined.<p>Anyway, I'd recommend the same thing: contact them and see if the law firm does, in fact, represent them and isn't just 'Prenda Law'ing.
It is unfortunate, but the integration of a link inside a page may affect it's page rank in google search results. This is enough, in my opinion, to justify the concern of the link target owner and legitimate the request to get the link removed. However, the harm, if any, needs to be established and proven for a trial to be successful I guess.
This reminds me of a case where a (very large) law firm sued a news site for linking to them:
<a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2009/02/linked_out.single.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudenc...</a>
Why did Datadial then remove the link in the original article if believed they are irrefutably right?<p>The jurisdiction is not even the litigant-friendly US, it is the UK...
Some years back, I had a guy try to tell me that an ordered list of common website links on his site was copyrighted (and that he would be suing me in court because I had those same links on my site).<p>He even wanted a public apology. I, of course, ignored all of this and he went away.<p>It's ridiculous what people will try to sue you about these days...