By Jo Best, 2 February 2004 14:50
NEWS Google may not be worried by Microsoft's threatened foray into the search arena but it seems the frat-boys-made-good might just be losing sleep over another entrant into the market - adult search engine Booble.com.
Adult-centric Booble.com's site is a parody of the Google homepage but the search giant doesn't appear to set much store by the adage that imitation is the sincerest form of the flattery. Google has slapped the site with a writ claiming trademark infringement and demands that it be shut down.
Booble's site mimics the search engine's colour scheme and logo, replacing the double 'o's with a pair of breasts - hence the name - and imitating Google's 'I'm feeling lucky' button with a variety of options for the porn-hungry consumer, including 'I'm feeling cheap' and 'I'm feeling playful'.
While Booble claims its site is merely a parody of Google's - rather than an illegal breach of its intellectual property - such semantics don't wash at the Googleplex. According to its attorney's letter, which is posted on the Booble.com site: "We dispute your assertion that your website is a parody. For a work to constitute a parody, it must use some elements of a prior author's composition to create a new one that, at least in part, comments on the original author's works."
One of the founders of Booble, a mysterious 'Bob' who claims to be a former exec at a leading US online company, apparently disputes the letter's argument and pledges to continue fighting. "We responded with our own letter, asserting our right to parody under the first amendment... We have just begun to fight for our right to parody," said the pseudonym-preferring boss on the site.
The site hasn't missed a chance to deliver a swift glory kick. A disclaimer on Booble.com states: "Booble.com is not affiliated with any other search engines (for starters, we have a sense of humor). Clicking on a link in the disclaimer takes users to a mock Google search page that says "Your search - sense of humor - did not match any Google documents".
The funny bones at chez Google weren't much tickled, it seems. Among the requests laid down by the search behemoth was a transfer of the domain name and an end to the site's existence, as well as a ban on any Googlelike look-and-feel on any of the Booble.com's sites in the future.
Comments
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1. Aled
The possibilities for Booble-whacking are mindboggling...
2. Brian
Well, Look at the Alexa Site traffic, from nowhere to somewhere!
With a little hope from Google Me-thinks!
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?&range=6m&size=large&url=http://booble.com/#graph
3. anonymous
You should examine these sites before passing them on in your weekly newsletter.
Seemd a giggle, so I explored it and its search engine.
Stupidly I lifted my zone-alarm block on mobile code, because Booble's blurb says how they have checked out everything linked to their site..and afer all , it was in your newsletter..... How stupid can you get!!
End result - a load of malware,spyware etc.etc, browser default web page changed, new Explorer Bar added, a load of short cuts on my desk top, more in my favourites, etc etc. Between them Adaware & Spybot removed around 90 items from my system, including about the same numner of changes to the registry.
Resetting the Browser, removing Explorer bar, favourites folder, shortcuts etc. I had to do manually. Also a nasty little file called MSA64CHK.DLL in WINDOWS/SYSTEM executed by a command dumped in the Start Menu called MP3ToTheMax.
This disconnects existing web connection and reconnects to a £1.50 a minute dial up line - seamlessly without you noticing! This little nasty is placed there by FUTRUPAGO S. L, (which is a company registered in Spain), Tax Number (CIF) B(I think it was)83301838, PO Box 13180, 28080 Madrid, Spain. MSA64CHK.dll programme itself is owned by Matrix Technology Network, S.A. 2003.
No doubt its all perfectly legal under Spanish law .....
If I stay signed up to your service, I shall be very very careful with any more web names/ hyperlinks in your newsletter.
I sincerely hope Jo Best's PC was even more messed up than mine was.
4. Anonymous
hahahahahahaha Anonymous your comment makes me laugh.
I have to say that if you choose ( and I emphasise 'choose' ) to go around clicking into porn sites and clicking yes to all the popups that come along, then what do you expect?
The very fact that for any of this to happen you must have clicked yes a number of times after clicking onto porn sites returned by booble.com leads me to suspect you thought were clicking yes to porn.
If you want to see porn on the net, perhaps you should become accustomed to the way these sites operate and learn to click NO to anything unsolicited before complaining to silicon.com that the web's too big and scary for you.
hahahahaha. Word of advice... if you see a popup you weren't expecting that says "Do you want to install ... " or "do you want to set your home page to ...", always click No. The symptoms you describe cannot happen without your permission.
5. anonymous
haha, BOOBLE ROCKS
6. anonymous
Maybe you should look at : yahsexoo.com
7. anonymous
I have just recieved my phone bill and have discovered (to my utter horror)that Mp3ToTheMax has cost me £284. HAS ANYONE ELSE BEEN DUPED BY THIS COMPANY? LET ME KNOW!
8. Anothermoose
To anonymous mother in London. The fact that your phone bill came to £284 as a result of mp3ToTheMax, would suggest that someone who uses your computer has downloaded a hell of a lot of mp3 files! I am guessing that you are the mother of a teenager, probably male. ;)
Bad luck on the bill though. Kids always cost a too much!
9. Bluemoon
Google should sue for copyright/trademark infridgement Gspotit.com does not follow Booble in these ways. We do not focus on someone elses name and marketing. That is just poor business.
thanks,
Bluemoon
http://www.gspotit.com
10. anonymous
I currently work for GSpotit.com I think Booble should be sued for Trademark & Copyright infringement to the fullest extent.
Google has spent billions of dollars marketing there websites through Yahoo, Television Advertising, Radio Advertising, and many more places.
This means Booble.com would have to do less marketing to present there name.
11. anonymous
GSpotit.com's adult search is a lot friendlier without all the crap. It looks to be a nice new Adult search engine.