Marketers Suing Google Can Appeal Class-Action Denial

A federal appellate court has agreed to decide whether marketers suing Google for click fraud can proceed with a class-action lawsuit against the search company.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals didn't give a reason for accepting the case, but the move is consistent with the court's decision last month in a case involving Facebook. In that matter, the court agreed to consider whether pay-per-click marketers suing the social networking service may proceed with a class-action lawsuit. The litigation against Google stems from its "parked domains" and "errors" programs, which often serve ads on typo sites that people visit accidentally. Several pay-per-click marketers -- including container company JIT Packaging, law firm Pulaski & Middleman and retailer RK West -- alleged in potential class-action lawsuits that ads on Google's AdSense for Domains and AdSense for Errors programs result in fewer purchases than ads on Google's search results pages. The marketers also claimed that ads on parked domains "could damage their brands."