GrubHub has been accused of buying thousands of domains and creating websites using the names of restaurants on its platform, allegedly without the restaurant owners’ consent.
The food delivery company, which owns Seamless and Menupages, has reportedly purchased 34,000 URLs since 2010, and created duplicate sites using the restaurant’s logos.
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“I never gave them permission to do that,” restaurant owner Shivane said to New Found Economy of GrubHub’s actions. GrubHub had purchased three different domains with varying versions of Shivane’s restaurant name in 2012, 2013 and 2014, New Food Economy reported.
The food delivery company, which owns Seamless and Menupages, has reportedly purchased 34,000 URLs since 2010, and created duplicate sites using the restaurant’s logos. (iStock)
The copycat websites, which link exclusively back to GrubHub or Seamless, often appear above the restaurant’s own official site in Google searches and can cost restaurant’s money as they have to pay more in commission fees if a customer orders through GrubHub instead of ordering through the restaurant’s website. The restaurants also face higher commission fees if customers place phone calls through the GrubHub app, as GrubHub records the calls and charges restaurants — whether an order is placed or not.
In response to the accusations, GrubHub claimed it was creating the websites to increase the web presence for the restaurants that are featured on its app and site.
“It has always been our practice to transfer the domain to the restaurant as soon as they request it,” the company said, New York Post reported.
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However, Ahmet Bugdayci, the owner of Abracadabra Magic Food in New York City, told the Post when he asked for his domain, he faced such a long process with the company to get it back that he gave up.
“In the beginning, we asked. It’s not easy,” Bugdayci said. “This is what they do, you can’t do anything. We want to talk, but it seems like a long process. We are a very small business.”
Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self Reliance, an advocacy group for local economies, accused GrubHub of making money off of restaurants without adding value.
“I just feel like this is a sort of pattern — whether it’s the way in which Uber and Lyft have reoriented the taxi service so they’ve basically positioned themselves as a gatekeeper and compelled everybody to operate in their system, and thereby get to take a large chunk of the revenue when they’re adding very little value compared to how much they take,” Mitchell said to New Food Economy.
GrubHub, which has been called unethical and predatory, has denied wrongdoing.
“I’ve never seen any evidence of cybersquatting or copying of restaurants to take their business,” Sami Naim, Grubhub’s director of public policy, said at a New York City Council hearing last week, New York Post reported. “None whatsoever.”
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GrubHub did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment, but further expanded on cybersquatting in a statement to the New Food Economy.
“Grubhub has never cybersquatted, which is identified by ICANN as ‘generally bad faith registration of another person’s trademark in a domain name.’ As a service to our restaurants, we have created microsites for them as another source of orders and to increase their online brand presence. Additionally, we have registered domains on their behalf, consistent with our restaurant contracts. We no longer provide that service and it has always been our practice to transfer the domain to the restaurant as soon as they request it.”
https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/grubhub-cybersquatting-fake-websites-without-owners-consent 2019-07-01 19:50:43Z
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