June 28, 2002 (Computerworld) --
Seven major news organizations will ask a U.S. District Court judge in Virginia on July 12 to stop online advertising company The Gator Corp. from placing pop-up ads on their Web sites until a lawsuit between the two sides can be resolved later this year. The plaintiffs claim that Redwood City, Calif.-based Gator has been piggybacking off their Web sites by placing pop-up ads that compete with the advertising the sites sell themselves, said Terence Ross, a Washington-based attorney at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, the law firm representing the plaintiffs, which are The Washington Post Co., Dow Jones & Co., Tribune Interactive, The New York Times Co., Knight Ridder, Advance Publications Inc. and Gannett Co. The publishers have 15 Web sites among them that draw millions of viewers each month. Files of both the 35-page request for an injunction (download PDF) and the 99-page complaint (download PDF) are available on the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher Web site.
The suit alleges that Gator displays ads that directly compete with services and products offered by the plaintiff's Web sites. For instance, the suit says Gator displayed an ad for travel Web site Travelocity.com on a plaintiff-owned Web site – concierge.com – that offered discount travel deals similar to those promoted by Travelocity.
"The fundamental fact is that he is making money off of our investments in our Web sites," Ross said this morning. The lawsuit focuses on issues of trademark and copyright violations, unfair competition and misappropriation and interference with future business contracts, Ross said. He also accused Gator of violating a Virginia state law concerning conspiracy to harm a business. Gator CEO Jeff McFadden issued a statement yesterday saying that all the charges are untrue and that Gator might countersue the Web site publishers. "The plaintiffs either haven't done their homework, or more likely are trying to create a 'bump in the road' for Gator, a company that's rapidly winning online advertising dollars from corporate America with its superior behavioral marketing platform," McFadden said in the statement. "We're highly confident that the allegations made by the plaintiffs are utterly baseless, and that the business practices we've employed for years with over 400 customers (including over sixty Fortune 500 companies) and 22 million active users are legal." McFadden went on to say that less than one-third of 1% of the ads Gator displays are pop-up ads. "The plaintiffs' true motivation here is clear: they want to slow the momentum of a competitor with a more effective marketing platform that's driving compelling, measurable results for advertisers," McFadden said. Ross said the plaintiffs haven't yet asked for monetary damages against Gator, and he said
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