NEW YORK – TradeComet.com LLC filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, a complaint asserting Google violates antitrust laws by eliminating competition and choice. TradeComet was forced to file the lawsuit when Google refused to stop engaging in predatory conduct to block search traffic by imposing massive, unjustified price increases. Google’s anticompetitive conduct eliminated TradeComet as a competitor. Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, LLP, one of the world’s leading international law firms, will represent TradeComet.com.

SourceTool.com, a subsidiary of TradeComet.com, operated a thriving global business-to-business (B2B) search engine enabling buyers of industrial products to easily connect with suppliers. SourceTool.com focused on a specialized type of industrial search, which it positioned as a competitor to Google’s general purpose search engine. Due to SourceTool’s utility for buyers, sellers and advertisers, the site took off—within months reaching 650,000 visits per day. SourceTool.com also was named a ‘2006 Rising Star of Specialized Search’ by InfoCommerce and the ‘Second Fastest Growing Internet Site in the World’ by Comscore.

Google initially embraced its relationship with SourceTool.com, naming them Google’s ‘Site of the Week’; SourceTool.com was reinvesting approximately 80 percent of its revenue by purchasing $500,000 per month or more in Google keywords.

In its complaint, TradeComet.com provides details of how Google subsequently identified SourceTool.com as a competitive threat and then engaged in illegal conduct to diminish and ultimately extinguish SourceTool.com’s platform.

“SourceTool.com offered a valuable service and TradeComet.com had a thriving business before Google decided to eliminate them as a competitor,” said Rick Rule, Chair of Antitrust for Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, LLP, and former head of the United States Justice Department Antitrust Division. “We believe this complaint has strong merit and represents a serious antitrust violation.”

“With no notice, Google changed from cheerleader to tyrant when it realized we were a competitive threat,” said Dan Savage, founder and CEO of SourceTool.com and TradeComet.com. “For example, Google raised my prices by 10,000 percent, which strangled our business, virtually overnight. Citing an ambiguous quality score determined by a secretive algorithm to justify the price increase, Google refused to consider reductions even after SourceTool.com invested the company’s savings to make the changes that Google said would rectify the supposed problems. As a result of Google flexing its monopolistic muscle, SourceTool.com currently averages about one percent of the traffic it previously had and is no longer a competitively viable business.”

TradeComet.com aims to recover damages caused when Google’s anticompetitive conduct eliminated SourceTool.com’s primary source of search traffic.

About TradeComet.com

TradeComet.com LLC is based in New York, NY and is the parent company of SourceTool.com, (www.SourceTool.com). Formed in September, 2005, TradeComet.com seeks to be the leader in the global sourcing marketplace employing Internet-based technologies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the supplier discover process.

About SourceTool.com

SourceTool (www.sourcetool.com) links professional buyers with qualified business suppliers around the world. Developed exclusively for the business-to-business market, SourceTool indexes and organizes nearly 500,000 business suppliers around the world according to UNSPSC®, a product classification system developed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and managed by GS1 US. The UNSPSC® (United Nations Standard Products and Services Code) classification system uses a hierarchical structure that organizes commodity product types according to business segments, families, and classes.

The interviews, available online now, cover a wide range of topics from discussion of key LegalTech sessions and use of social media by lawyers and law firms, to electronic data discovery and the impact of the current economic downturn on technology spending. Interviewees will also include winners of the 2009 Law Technology News Awards.

LegalTech attendees and exhibitors can also experience Incisive Media’s extensive network of legal blogs at the company’s onsite blogging station, located at the entrance to the show. Visitors can use computers at the station to navigate throughout the Incisive blog network, based on interest area or hot topics, read posts and add comments of their own, live from the booth.

In addition, current issues of Incisive Media publications, including Law Technology News, The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel and The National Law Journal will be available at multiple locations throughout the event space.

Last year, LegalTech New York attracted 13,000 attendees and featured almost 300 exhibiting companies. The 2009 conference will offer more than 40 educational sessions for attendees, on topics ranging from electronic discovery and knowledge management, to emerging technologies. For a conference agenda, exhibitor list and other details, visit www.legaltechshow.com. Show information is also available through LinkedIn and Twitter.

LegalTech is presented by Incisive Media Conferences and Trade Shows, a leading producer of educational and networking events for business leaders and professionals.

About Incisive Media

Incisive Media is a leading global provider of specialized business news and information, in print, in person and online. The company’s principal markets include financial services, legal services, commercial real estate, marketing services and risk management. Incisive Media’s market-leading brands include Accountancy Age, Computing, Investment Week, Legal Week, LegalTech, Post, Real Estate Forum, Risk, Search Engine Strategies and The American Lawyer. For more information, visit www.incisivemedia.com.

The American Lawyer, Law Technology News, Corporate Counsel, LegalTech, The National Law Journal, Post, Risk, Search Engine Strategies and Real Estate Forum are registered trademarks of ALM Properties, Inc. or affiliated entities.

Presenters:
Mark Cenicola
Before founding Cenicola-Helvin Enterprises in 1999, Mark worked as a Network Engineer (Certified Novell Engineer) for the City of North Las Vegas responsible for helping with the design, layout and maintenance of a new multi-million dollar computer network. Mark was a shareware computer software author with titles written for both the Macintosh and PC which have been featured in magazines and CD-ROMs across the globe in places like Japan, France, and the US.

Jeff Helvin
Prior to co-founding Cenicola-Helvin Enterprises, Jeff held mid-level management positions at nationwide retailer, Williams-Sonoma, with emphasis in customer service and employee management. He began a rigorous self-motivated study program in HTML, web design, and client side application development. He has honed his skills in advanced HTML, DHTML, JavaScript, and Graphic Design.

David LeGrand
David LeGrand of Fennemore Craig, a full service law firm with more than 190 attorneys, has represented a variety of corporate and individual clients during his twenty-five year career, generally as outside general counsel or securities counsel. His practice has included advising private and public companies on formation, operational, tax and securities matters.

Ray Harris
Ray Harris of Fennemore Craig practices in the area of commercial litigation, including trade secret, trademark, trade dress, computer software copyright, and other intellectual property protection matters.

Date: September 18, 2008

Time: 7:00am to 10:00am

Location:
Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce
6671 S. Las Vegas Blvd. Suite 300
Las Vegas, NV 89119
Inside Town Square

Cost:
$25/person before September 12; $30 thereafter

Sponsors:
The CEO-CFO Group
Business Wire

For more information and to register for this Las Vegas Business Seminar, visit the BannerView.com Web site at http://www.bannerview.com/seminar/

About Cenicola-Helvin Enterprises — http://www.Cenicola-Helvin.com & http://www.BannerView.com

Cenicola-Helvin Enterprises is an Internet information resource company publishing a variety of Web sites ranging from Internet communities to classified advertising and provides e-business solutions under its BannerView.com brand. E-business solutions range from Web site development, e-mail marketing software, e-commerce systems, custom online database solutions to Web site hosting & maintenance.