Fox13 in the US are reporting
SAN FRANCISCO – A group of restaurants has filed a class-action lawsuit against Google, alleging the tech giant resorted to deceptive online ordering practices for profit.
The suit was filed by Left Field Holdings LLC, a Florida-based franchisee of six “Lime Fresh Mexican Grill” restaurants, in the U.S. District Court Northern District of California earlier this month.
Left Field Holdings LLC accused Google of “deliberately misleading consumers by using the tradenames and reputations of the restaurant class members without their permission.”
According to the complaint, when a customer wants to order food and uses Google to search for a restaurant, the tech giant directs them to an “unauthorized digital ‘storefront’ or pop-up webpage owned and controlled by Google.”
The complaint further stated that Google designed the web pages by featuring the restaurants’ tradenames, tricking customers into believing they are on a website owned by the restaurant. Google then uses the webpages to capture food orders and sell them to online delivery platforms such as Postmates, DoorDash and Grubhub, according to court documents.
The lawsuit further alleged that Google never obtained permission to use the restaurants’ tradenames, robbing the restaurants of customer relationships and forcing businesses to shell out “substantial fees paid to delivery platforms (as much as 30%) for each order that Google routes to a delivery provider.” Attorneys for Left Field Holdings said a portion of that fee is paid to Google.
Read full article at https://www.q13fox.com/news/google-sued-by-restaurants-for-alleged-deceptive-online-ordering-practices
