Cuil thumbnails algorithm broken – causes trademark violations

www.cuil.com – a new search engine created by ex-Google employees provides thumbnail images next to search results. The nature of algorithm they use to determine which thumbnail to use for each search result is unclear. What is clear, is that it is broken – terribly so. It seems that the thumbnail Cuil uses next to search results does not have to come from the actual site that appears in the results.

If you search Cuil for Free Games for example, the second result lists www.CoffeBreakArcade.com with www.playedonline.com logo appearing next to it. Whatever the reasoning behind it, website like PlayedOnline can claim that their logo is being used to promote other websites.

Whether this is a byproduct of bad design or simply a bug is unknown, but my legal opinion is that there is definitely a case for a lawsuit here. Especially when you consider that Played Online, that ranks #2 in Google for the search term Free Games, isn’t even listed as a result on Cuil but its logo is used there. Another problematic fact is that the PlayedOnline logo is actually clickable and leads to the Coffe Break Arcade website.

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