Abstract

This article discusses the threat of click fraud to search engine website companies like Google, Yahoo!, Overture, MSN Messenger Search, America Online, and Lycos. Google announced a US$ 90 million settlement to settle the class action lawsuit led by Lane’s Gifts & Collectibles. Google was the most popular search engine and revolutionized the online advertising industry through its pay per click AdWords and AdSense text based advertising model. But click fraud was a major problem and advertisers felt cheated. Many internet marketing and search engine optimization firms offer consulting services and software products that help detect and prevent click fraud.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• 0

Keywords

Google, click, fraud, google inc., blog, Nicole Wong, Associate General Counsel at Google Inc., out-of-court, settlement, out-of-court settlement, class action lawsuit, lawsuit, Lane's Gifts & Collectibles, plaintiff, online retail store, retails, online, February 2005, Arkansas state court, Google, Yahoo, Time Warner, America Online, Netscape, subsidiaries, Lycos, Ask Jeeves Inc., FindWhat.com Inc., Buena Vista Internet Group, LookSmart Ltd., web search companies, plaintiff's online advertisements, online advertisements, cost per click advertising program, cost per click, advertising program, legal fees, credits, search engines, spokesperson, legal battle, proprietary click protection system, investors, analysts, advertisers, Internet search giant's business, internet, search, Jim Friedland, SG Cowen, stock