Yelp has a pretty shady history with this. The class action suit from a year or two ago was dismissed, so I assume what they are doing is legal in some sense.
I really don't get it. I mean, could Zagat have gotten away with this in the pre-internet era? "Hey man, love your restaurant, but each star costs $100."
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/yelp-and-the-business-of-e...
http://consumerist.com/2010/02/yelp-accused-of-more-negative...
http://jonathanturley.org/2010/02/27/yelp-accused-of-extorti...
http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/04/yelp-lawsuit-extortion/
http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/17/complaints-against-yelps-ex...
http://www.pcworld.com/article/190231/yelp_hit_with_class_ac...
http://www.wired.com/business/2010/04/yelp-fights-fraud-alle...
Yelp has a pretty shady history with this. The class action suit from a year or two ago was dismissed, so I assume what they are doing is legal in some sense.