Lawsuit seeks to block Google settlement

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institutional scam

It seems that many of you received the e-mail about the Arkansas class-action lawsuit against Google. Here?s the catch (if the whole thing is real at all): The issue is complex enough that most of the recipients don't understand it and they just delete the message. By doing so, they give up the right to sue Google for click fraud forever. So, here is what the e-mailed document says and these are the statements that you have to put into context. Pay close attention to them:

1. The settlement will provide advertising credits to class members who certify that they were the victims of ?click fraud?

2. Under the settlement, Google will establish a $90 million settlement fund, of which a portion will be used to pay class counsel?s fees and costs, and the remainder will be available to class members in the form of advertising credits that may be applied to up to 50% of the cost of future online advertising purchased from Google.

3. The Court will decide the amount of fees to be paid to class counsel and the extent to which the expenses that they incurred in working on the case should be reimbursed. Class counsel intend to seek a maximum of 33 ? percent of the settlement fund, or $30 million, in attorneys? fees and expenses in this case. Under the settlement, Google has agreed that it will not oppose an award of up to $30 million to class counsel.

4. Credits will be awarded on a pro rata basis, taking into account the amount that you paid to Google for the ads and the total amount of credits available. For example, if the amounts that you paid to Google for the affected ads were 1% of Google?s revenues from online advertising since January 1, 2002, you would be eligible to receive 1% of the total available credits. You must certify in your claim form the percentage of your ads you believe were affected by ?click fraud?.

5. Unless you exclude yourself (opt out), you are staying in the class, and that means you can?t sue, continue to sue, or be part of any other lawsuit against Google relating to the subject matter of this case.

Here is what all the above means (again, if it's real):
- If you do nothing (and this is what most recipients of this letter will do), you'll remain in the class which eliminates your right to sue Google for click fraud beyond the scope of this settlement.
- If you remain in the class, you might (emphasis on might) earn a certain amount of credit points that "may be applied to up to 50% of the cost of future online advertising purchased from Google."
- The maximum amount of the credit points you might earn is the equivalent proportion of the available fund to your spending relative to Google's total advertisement revenue from January 1 2002. Let's say Google's advertisement revenue during the mentioned period was $2.7 billion. If you'd spent $100,000.- on the affected campaigns you are eligible for a maximum of 0.03% of the available fund which equals $2,222.- (Don't forget that 33,1/3% of the fund will be spent on class counsel fees.) Sheer eligibility of course does not mean that you automatically will get this amount if you spent one hundred thousands. I quote: " You must certify in your claim form the percentage of your ads you believe were affected by ?click fraud? ". If you say that 30% of your clicks were fraud, you MIGHT get away with a hefty 666 dollar credit, that goes back to Google with your additional 666 real dollars as the other 50% of your total purchase that is required for the credit reimbursement.

The total net loss of the process for Google is a maximum of $30 million that is paid for attorneys? fees and expenses in this case.
The gain for Google is that for this 30 million is they can eliminate the vast majority of their advertisers from filing a click fraud claim against them in the future. If you remain in the class and do the paperwork, you can get an insignificant compensation in the form of future purchase discount. If you do nothing you don't get anything right now and you also lose the right to get back your fraudulently taken dollars forever. The only chance you have for real compensation is to opt out and start your independent litigation. Question: How many of Google?s client will do that?

If this thing is real, then it is one of the most insidious institutional scam we've ever seen.

Your opinion?

Posted by: BelaLugosi   Posted on: 05/21/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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