Google to Return $90 Million to US AdWords Customers with Fraudulent Clicks

Mar 9, 2006 - 7:13 am 0 — by

In a class action law suit on click fraud against Google and other engines (Google's AdWords partners). Google and Lane's Gifts & Collectibles (the one who filed the claim) settled on $90 million settlement fund to be returned to US based AdWords customers with invalid clicks. The class action lawsuit does not seem to involve those outside of the US; Danny Sullivan said "To date, Google's had no lawsuits over click fraud filed outside the US." If you want the whole run down, I recommend reading Danny's SEW entry.

Let me pull out one comment that maybe Wall Street will understand, but probably wont.

The why answer seems a no brainer for me. A $90 million settlement, compared to Google's revenues, is cheap to get this particular issue resolved. It seems likely to buy an out from all potential cases going back for years. Compared to the estimated $260 to $290 million Google spent to resolve a patent lawsuit with Yahoo, this deal seems an especially cheap, smart one to take.

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