Noted trend forecaster Gerald Celente sued Google this week for allegedly letting bloggers use his image in vulgar postings.
The blogs at issue have variations of Celente's name, including geraldcelente-blog.blogspot.com and geraldcelente-blog.blogspot.ca.Google acquired the company that runs that blog site in April 2011.
The blogs post vulgar phrases like "WAKE THE [F-] UP" along with Celente's image, according to court documents filed by Celente.
Bloggers also allegedly put anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic, and anti-Islamist words in Celente's mouth, causing him to fear for his own safety.
Celente – who credits himself with predicting and naming the current "Great Recession" – called the posts obvious attempts to impersonate him and make money off his image through "pay per click" ads.
"Despite Google's policy against impersonation, Google has refused to deactivate the infringing blogs or to otherwise take action," Celente claimed in a court document that also names bloggers as defendants.
Google declined to comment Friday.
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