Publishers sue Gator over pop-ups

By Stefanie Olsen, CNET News, 28 June, 2002 09:53

NEWS

A group of publishers this week sued the Gator online advertising network in a bid to bar the company from serving pop-up ads on their Web sites without their permission. The suit was filed on Tuesday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. The Washington Post, The New York Times, Dow Jones and seven other publishers allege that Gator's ads violate their copyrights and steal revenue. Gator is "essentially a parasite on the Web that free rides on the hard work and the investments of plaintiffs and other Web site owners," according to the filing. "In short, Gator sells advertising space on the plaintiffs' Web sites without (their) authorisation and pockets the profits from such sales." Gator develops software that manages passwords and fills out forms for about 10 million Web surfers, who often download the application unwittingly through other popular file-sharing programs. Also bundled in Gator's software is a program called OfferCompanion, which monitors Web surfing behaviour and delivers targeted pop-up ads to viewers. For example, a Web surfer may see an advertisement for Ford Motor -- delivered by Gator -- while visiting Toyota.com. The lawsuit is the latest legal tussle for Gator. Last year, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) criticised the company for selling banner ads that obscure those sold by online publishers. Gator sued the IAB, alleging "malicious disparagement" over its statements, but the two parties found common ground when Gator agreed to stop selling banner overlays. Earlier this year, catalog retailer L.L. Bean sent Gator a cease-and-desist letter, attempting to stop the company from launching ads on its site. Gator countersued, and a case is still pending in Oregon. The latest suit highlights mounting tension over tactics used by Gator and others. Earlier this year, WeightWatchers.com sued rival DietWatch.com for using Gator to deliver ads to visitors of its site. On 11 June, a court granted WeightWatchers a permanent injunction barring DietWatch from serving ads on its site. This week's action charges that Gator violates the publishers' copyright and trademark rights. By delivering unauthorised pop-up ads, Gator is altering the intended display of the work, a right that has been recognised by the Supreme Court, said Terence Ross, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. In a statement issued on Thursday, Gator chief executive Jeff McFadden said the company will vigorously defend itself against the suit, and may countersue. He added that the suit is "baseless." "The plaintiffs contend consumers' software programs cannot lawfully display pop-up windows while a consumer is surfing the Internet. This flies in the face of the very nature of the Windows operating system and is ridiculous," McFadden said. "It would mean that AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Microsoft Outlook and dozens of other software applications that automatically display information in separate windows are illegal." He continued to say that a tiny fraction of Gator's pop-up ads appear on the plaintiff's Web sites and that one of the publishers named in the lawsuit, which he did not identify, has used Gator to display ads on the rival sites for The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. "Gator is emerging as a powerful force in online marketing because its advertising products work well, and while we understand why these plaintiffs/competitors feel threatened by us, being a strong and thriving competitor isn't illegal," McFadden said. Gator has been selling such advertising for more than a year and has accumulated several top-tier advertisers including Target.com. According to Ross, the plaintiffs were stirred to action after the company published marketing material in April essentially promising ad buyers placement on the Web sites of specific publications, including The New York Times. "Indeed, on information and belief, Gator tells prospective advertisers that it is more effective to advertise on a targeted Web site by buying the URL through Gator than actually approaching the Web site owner itself," according to the filing. Ross said the companies went forward with action against Gator because historically, it has been unwilling to discuss its practices with publishers. "Given Gator's history of running to court whenever anyone criticised them, we did not believe that they were willing to discuss this issue in good faith with us," Ross said. The companies are seeking a short-term preliminary injunction against Gator, preventing it from delivering ads keyed to their sites. It is also seeking a permanent injunction against the company and monetary damages for any advertising dollars made from their Web pages.

For everything Internet-related, from the latest legal and policy-related news, to domain name updates, see ZDNet UK's Internet News Section. Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the ZDNet news forum. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

ZDNet UK Live

I agree with the previous commenter wholeheartedly. I couldn't say it better myself. This is very 'Big Brother'. And while I agree with protecting...

28 minutes ago by UnderINK on European e-identity plan to be unveiled this month

Nice to see that Turing's idea of a general purpose computer doing once-hardware-powered tasks in software is now universal ;-) Mary

6 hours ago by Simon Bisson and Mary Branscombe on Software with everything

seriously now. I've only bothered to read a small bit of the comments. do me and the rest of the world a favour. stop saying it does not work or...

10 hours ago by Jason Burchell via Facebook on Music industry negotiating over 24-bit downloads

Read about it and weep, John Donahoe ... In addition to Visa’s V.me, there is now MasterCard’s PayPass digital wallet soon to arrive; another...

14 hours ago by Philip Charles Cohen via Facebook on PayPal takes phone-based payments to the high street

Leslie Satenstein : Where have you ever seen Mozilla even mention this? Firefox is the most popular browser in the GNU/Linux OS, so I don't see...

15 hours ago by apexwm on Firefox rapid release improves Fedora Linux

SHleG: Do you remember building a clockwork scorpion kit (I'm pretty sure I have a photo of it somewhere) — I think it was called something like...

16 hours ago by songmaster on Software with everything

Good I love Yahoo! Their search engine is getting better than Google as of late. I find more of what I want on the first page, and usually within...

17 hours ago by Chris Wortman via Facebook on Linux Mint 13 ramps up for KDE release

openhgs has made the point for Windows 8 multiple monitors without realising it! With Windows 7 you have to switch the mouse and so your focus...

19 hours ago by PatrickG on Windows 8 could speed multi-monitor uptake

Mozilla has threatened to stop supporting Linux. I guess that UBUNTU is going with another browser. I indicated that if Mozilla stops supporting...

20 hours ago by Leslie Satenstein via Facebook on Firefox rapid release improves Fedora Linux

Much as I abhor Microsoft's licensing practices, this is almost certainly down to purchasing IT equipment via 3rd party consultants - you get the...

20 hours ago by Andy Bolstridge via Facebook on 6 million wasted licences and £1,200 PCs: welcome to government IT

@openhgs Windows users have had multiple desktops since Linus started writing Linux. They just haven't shipped as standard because not enough...

2 days ago by Jack Schofield on Windows 8 could speed multi-monitor uptake

@Phil at Cloud4 What, Microsoft gets £1,200 per PC and £1,622 per server? Gosh, I'm amazed....

2 days ago by Jack Schofield on 6 million wasted licences and £1,200 PCs: welcome to government IT

You guys have no idea what is going on at Autonomy. Autonomy could have been a much more profitable organization. The sales operations at Autonomy...

2 days ago by craigsc on HP cuts 27,000 staff as Autonomy chief Lynch leaves

How does this impact on dual or multi booting? Seems to me to more or less prohibit this, from Windows 8 anyway. Will Grub 2 recognise Windows 8,...

2 days ago by Moley on Windows 8 start-up speed forces USB boot workaround

I don't understand why there cannot be a slight pause during the boot process so the user can press a key. Many operating systems do this, even if...

2 days ago by apexwm on Windows 8 start-up speed forces USB boot workaround

You can now buy the Xi3 modular computer in the UK at http://www.ocdistribution.com . This can be bought with the Tand3m software, pricing and...

2 days ago by Gavin Goodman on CES 2012: Xi3 microSERV3R

I agree: Mike Lynch can clearly build a business and manage strategy. I suspect the exit of Mike is more likely the end of a planned handover...

2 days ago by Phil at Cloud4 on HP cuts 27,000 staff as Autonomy chief Lynch leaves

This is unbeleivable government wastage with only one winner... Microsoft 1 - Tax payer Nil!

2 days ago by Phil at Cloud4 on 6 million wasted licences and £1,200 PCs: welcome to government IT

So what do you do when you can't boot into windows? Why can't I just hold Shift while I power up instead of having to boot into windows and click a...

2 days ago by Mispam on Windows 8 start-up speed forces USB boot workaround

I've also seen that Mac OS X for Intel machines is supposed to run in VirtualBox, which would also be a nice solution. I've never tried it though.

2 days ago by apexwm on xTreme Triple Booting: Linux, Mac & Windows

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Publishers sue Gator over pop-ups

Daily Newsletters

Topics

Related stories

Gator exec speaks out on ads

Gator bites back in ad battle

You know when you've been Gatored

Citrix to deliver Windows desktops from the cloud

Post your comment

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in IT Strategy

Citrix to deliver Windows desktops from the cloud

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Senior Business Analyst

Technical Project Manager

Software Support Engineer

Inside ZDNet UK

Indoor navigation coming to a mobile near you soon

Software with everything

Asus Transformer Pad TF300T

How IT is ganging up on organised cybercrime

HTC One V: First take

SharePoint deployment: The final chapter

Ten IT jobs to save up for those rare lulls

News & Analysis

Reviews

Blogs

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features

ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Business of IT / IT Strategy

Publishers sue Gator over pop-ups

Daily Newsletters

Topics

Related stories

Post your comment

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in IT Strategy

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Inside ZDNet UK

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features