I don't even understand why there should be a way for them to remove his search results.
The search engine reports on what other sites say about people. They are not generating new content -- they consolidate results that are a map of reality. Silencing them, does not change the fact that the other sites have that content. Google is reporting true facts in its search engine: this site says X about Y. How is that not a true statement of fact? Truth should be (morally not legally) a defense here.
This is where libel laws in these ridiculous venues goes wrong.
I'm assuming he's already had the other sites remove their content, and he's just trying to get the cache cleared. I'm assuming that he followed Google's procedure to have the cache cleared, but made a mistake, and that's why they didn't do it.
Rather than continue to struggle with a faceless corporation he just gave up and went to law.
The search engine reports on what other sites say about people. They are not generating new content -- they consolidate results that are a map of reality. Silencing them, does not change the fact that the other sites have that content. Google is reporting true facts in its search engine: this site says X about Y. How is that not a true statement of fact? Truth should be (morally not legally) a defense here.
This is where libel laws in these ridiculous venues goes wrong.