A US judge has ordered both Google and Oracle to reveal the names of bloggers, SEO agencies and reporters they have paid in the past.
The ruling has been made as the judge is “concerned” that the relationships could have affected how the companies have been analysed in the media. With the possibility of comments made online and in print affecting corporate success, it throws a light on paid-for blogging across the world.
There are a great many firms in the UK that pay third party commentators to mention them favourably in their blogs. Many more use the services of content writers to rank in search engine results.
However, in this case in particular, it is more to do with how comments made by paid bloggers has affected the ongoing patent dispute between the two firms, meaning that this ruling does not currently affect those in SEO jobs at the moment.
One blogger, Florian Mueller, from Germany said being paid by Oracle did not affect the independence of his posts though.
The patent consultant said that whilst he had written favourable comments about Oracle’s claim, “There was never any request to say please do this or that.”
He went on to say that all opinions were his own, and that Oracle had no editing right over his posts.
The intellectual property battle between the two tech giants will rage on for some time, with both firms being given until 17th August to provide the information demanded.
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