COPYCENSE

Under a proposed $90 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit over alleged click fraud, Google said Wednesday that it would offer advertising credits to marketers who claim they were charged for invalid clicks and not reimbursed.

The total amount of credits, including attorneys’ fees, will max out at $90 million, Nicole Wong, associate general counsel at Google, wrote in a Google blog posting.

The lawsuit, filed in February 2005 in state court in Texarkana, Ark., accused the defendant search engines of charging advertisers for clicks on online advertisements that were fraudulent or done in bad faith and not with the intention of legitimate commerce. The lawsuit was filed by Lane’s Gifts and Collectibles and Caulfield Investigations against Google, Yahoo, Time Warner and its America Online and Netscape subsidiaries, Lycos, FindWhat.com, now known as Miva Media, Buena Vista Internet Group doing business as Go.com, LookSmart and Ask Jeeves, now known as Ask.com.

Elinor Mills. Google Says Click Fraud Settlement Near. News.com. March 8, 2006.

See also:

Google Blog. Update: Lane’s Gifts v. Google. Mach 8, 2006.

Eric Goldman. Lane’s Gifts Click Fraud Lawsuit Near Settlement. Technology & Marketing Law Blog. March 8, 2006.

Search Engine Watch Blog. Google Agrees To $90 Million Settlement In Class Action Lawsuit Over Click Fraud. March 8, 2006.

John Battelle’s Search Blog. Google About to Settle Click Fraud Class Action Suit. March 8, 2006.

Updates:

Burt Helm. Gauging Google’s Gaffes. BusinessWeek Online. March 10, 2006.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.