Rob McKenna
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF WASHINGTON
Consumer Protection Division
800 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2000 Seattle, WA 98104 (206) 464-6686
8/10/2010
Paul A Mitchell
c/o 117 E Louisa ST
Seattle, WA 98102-3203
RE: Google Incorporated
File #: 359316
Dear Paul A Mitchell:
Our office has received a reply from Google Incorporated regarding your
complaint. Enclosed is a copy for your records.
We will retain a copy of your complaint as part of our public record of the
firm’s business practices. Thank you for contacting our office.
Sincerely,
SANDRA M. HATCHER
Program Specialist 2
Consumer Protection Division
(206) 389-2743
Enclosure
August 6, 2010
VIA EMAIL
Sandra M. Hatcher
Program Specialist 2
Consumer Protection Division
Attorney General of Washington
800 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2000
Seattle, WA 98104
RE: 359316 ( Paul A. Mitchell)
Dear Ms. Hatcher:
Google Inc. (“Google”) writes in response to your email dated July 26, 2010,
regarding the above-referenced consumer complaint.
Our understanding of the allegations is that on or about September 28, 2008 Mr.
Paul A. Mitchell submitted an idea in response to Google's Project 10^100
contest. The contest requested individuals to submit ideas to change the
world, in the hope of helping as many people as possible. As a result,
Google would fund $10 Million to fund five of the best ideas. Mr.
Mitchell is alleging that Google has changed the wording of the terms of the
contest and that it is his understanding that the monies were promised to the
individuals that came up with the ideas. He alleges that Google has changed the
terms so that the money is now changed to organizations that can best implement
the ideas.
Mr. Mitchell further cites his idea; "worldwide adoption of the goal and
committing all resources necessary to realize 1 Gigabit Internet access
everywhere on planet Earth." He notes our announcement dated
February 2, 2010 (<http://googleblog.blogspot.
As to any changes in terms of the original contest; Google has not made any
changes as to who would be awarded the $10 Million. As stated in the FAQ
section of the contest site in September of 2008; (<http://www.
Idea Selection
...
Q: If an idea is selected for
funding, what do the contributors who inspired that idea get?
A: Good karma and the satisfaction of
knowing that their ideas truly might help a lot of people.
...
Implementing the ideas
Q. How will Google implement these
ideas?
A: Once we've announced up to five
ideas for funding, we'll begin the process of identifying the organization(s)
that are in
the best position to
help implement the selected ideas.
Q: Will the ideas be implemented
exactly as described?
A: Our primary goal is to give the
winning ideas the greatest chance of success in their goal of helping a lot of
people. While
we believe each of
these ideas has the potential for excellence, we'll be partnering with
organizations with relevant
expertise to implement
them. As such, we'll be open to their suggestions as to how to improve the
ideas to increase the
probability of success.
...
Q: I know an organization that I
believe can implement one of the final ideas. What should I do?
A: Once we've selected up to five
ideas for funding, we will reach out to relevant organizations to participate
in an RFP process.
If you think your
organization would be a good candidate,..
An article written PC Advisors, dated September 25, 2008 clearly states the
terms of the contest as published to everyone
( <http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/
"Google is encouraging individuals, rather than organisations
to submit ideas
If your idea is chosen, you won't have to implement it yourself. After
selecting the ideas that will be funded, Google will use a public bidding
process to identify organisations able to make the
projects happen. The reward for getting your idea chosen is "good karma
and the satisfaction of knowing that your idea might truly help a lot of
people".
As to the claim that Mr. Mitchell makes about our recent announcement of 1
Gigabit internet, we are unable to make the connection between Mr. Mitchell's idea submitted in 2008 to our present announcement.
There is nothing to suggest that our Wifi team has
had any connection with the ideas posted to the Project 10^100 boards.
Furthermore, our intention to bring free and larger internet broadband access
has been an ongoing process that has been published for a number of years prior
to Mr. Mitchell's 2008 submittal.
In 2005 Google announced that it planned on making free WiFi
connection for San Francisco. It already provided limited broadband
connection for the City of Mountain View, and Bryant Park in New York.
Initially this was 300 Kbs. <http://gigaom.com/2005/09/30/
In 2006 Google initiated free wifi for the city of
Mountain View, <http://googleblog.blogspot.
In 2006 Google CEO posted a Note to Google Users urging them to fight for open
net neutrality; <http://www.google.com/help/
In June of 2007, Google was one of the first companies that lobbied for open
internet access to Congress, <http://news.cnet.com/Google-
Our mission to bring 1 Gig Fiber optics to communities has been an extensive
project on our part that has evolved as the technology has been become better and innovation has allowed us to move from 300Kbs to
1 Gigabit. it became rather apparent by 2007 that new
advancements in fiber optics would allow most internet providers to increase
broadband capacity. As stated in our recent announcement it is our desire to
bring such access to communities in the US. We have not yet gotten to the
point where we can provide access to the "Earth" as put forth in Mr.
Mitchell's idea.
It is also very important to note that Google has never said it would not award
the contest money to the worthy organizations that can implement some of the
great ideas we have received. Google has announced that from the 150,000
submittals it has narrowed the contenders to 16 and will be making an
announcement in the near future.
Sincerely,
Roy Batista
Litigation Paralegal
Google Legal