One familiar Google search feature known as auto-complete has put the company in hot water with the Japanese legal system.

According to The Japan Times, a Tokyo District Court has approved a petition requesting that Google halt its auto-complete feature. The petition against Google was filed by a Japanese man who claims the feature breached his privacy and eventually led to the loss of his job. According to the man, whose name has been withheld, when his name is typed into the Google search engine auto-complete suggests words associated with criminal behavior. And when those suggested searches are clicked, over 10,000 results are shown that disparage or defame him. According to the plaintiff, this negative Google footprint has prevented him from finding employment since his initial firing several years ago.

The man's lawyer, Hiroyuki Tomita, told the paper, "It could lead to irretrievable damage, such as job loss or bankruptcy, just by displaying search results that constitute defamation or violation of the privacy of an individual person or small and medium-size companies It is necessary to establish a measure to enable swift redress for damage in the event of a clear breach." According to the plaintiff, when contacted last October about the matter, Google refused to remove the words because they were mechanically generated word suggestions.

We've seen several cases in the past in which individuals concerned about their online reputation attempted, with varying degrees of success, to get Google to tip the scales in their favor. The most famous instance in recent memory involved current presidential candidate Rick Santorum, who suffered a negative Google footprint for several years until recent campaign news events away from the first page of results.

Another online reputation dustup occurred just last year when a British business owner was falsely accused of being a pedophile in a Google Places review. Google eventually removed the review, but not before the business owner lost, according to his own estimates, roughly 80 percent of his business. And just last month, Google buckled when faced with a new Indian law directing Internet companies to block religiously offensive user-generated content.

However, the difference between the afore-mentioned cases and this latest incident appears to be a question of content versus algorithm. Tomita's client has specifically targeted auto-correct as a technology, rather than addressing a simple negative review or damaging search result as the main issue. According to Tomita, Google has not taken action on the petition, which was approved on March 19, a situation which may lead to a new lawsuit from the plaintiff seeking financial damages from the search company.