Hotel Chain Sues China Yahoo for Unfair Competition
National Business Daily, 3/25/09
Hotel chain Orange Hotel Group has filed suit against search engine China Yahoo in Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court on allegations of unfair competition. According to Orange Hotel, the company discovered on March 4 that competitor GreenTree Inn was using Orange Hotel's name on China Yahoo's search engine, with links leading to GreenTree's own website providing untrue information and unfair comparisons between the companies.
As a result, Orange Hotel claims that Chinese B2B e-commerce firm Alibaba Group, the owner of China Yahoo, was complicit in helping GreenTree Inn provide false information for economic gain. According to Orange Hotel, actions taken by China Yahoo and Alibaba exceed the traditional bounds of search engines and constitute joint infringement of competition laws.
Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court has accepted the case.
Keywords: Orange Hotel Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court China Yahoo GreenTree Inn hotel Internet law litigation online search