Google’s part in an Arkansas lawsuit comes to an end after an Arkansas judge approved a $90 million settlement reached by the two sides.
Google associate general counsel Nicole Wong posted an update to the Official Google Blog regarding the click fraud case. Arkansas Circuit Court Judge Joe Griffin gave his blessing to the settlement today.
The settlement did not come to fruition without controversy. Out of the $90 million agreement that brings the Lane’s Gifts, et al vs Google, et al suit to an end for Google, about $30 million will go to pay attorney’s fees. The litigants do not receive cash in the settlement.
Instead, Google will provide a given number of advertising credits to claimants under the settlement. That was not satisfactory to some of the plaintiffs, who attempted to get Judge Griffin to throw the settlement out of court.
Those objections were rejected by the judge, whose opinion said “the settlement is fair, reasonable and adequate for all members of the class.”
But the case is not over yet for a number of other defendants, all of whom have chosen to fight to the bitter end (or at least until a better settlement comes along.) The list of remaining defendants reads like a who’s who of online search advertising:
Yahoo
Overture
Time Warner
AOL
Netscape
Ask Jeeves
Buena Vista Internet Group (Go.com)
Lycos
LookSmart
FindWhat
Google was the big prize for the plaintiff’s, considering the company’s dominant position atop the paid search advertising world. The settlement may put a lot of pressure on the remaining defendants to put the case behind them and settle as well.
Advertisers may find more information about the settlement at the ClickSettlement website.
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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
