AdSense Publisher Sues Google And Wins
Mar 6, 2009 at 9:34am ET by Barry Schwartz
Why I Sued Google (and Won) from the Huffington Post has a story about an AdSense publisher who sued Google and actually won.
I have seen the beginning of the story hundreds of times in forum threads, emails and via Twitter. Google terminated the publisher’s AdSense account because of “posing a significant risk to advertisers.” What exactly does Google mean by a “risk to advertisers” in this case? Well, Google typically won’t give publishers who pose a risk to advertisers an answer to that question. So you see thread after thread of complaints in the AdSense Help discussions forum and other forums. This publisher decided to do something about it.
He filed a suit in small claims court for $721 against Google. Since it was small claims court, lawyers are not allowed and Google sent a Paralegal. To make a long story short, the judge found in favor of the publisher. The judge said, “I don’t think I have the power here in Palo Alto small claims court to make you reinstate his account, but I think you owe this young man $721.” The judge also added, “I think there might be money in Google’s treasury for that.”
To be fair to the Paralegal, she had no information from the AdSense team as to why this publisher was terminated. So, when asked, she had no answer. She did say that Google’s terms of service allow them to terminate publishers for any reason they deem. In addition, the $721 that the publisher has claimed, according to Google, was already returned to the advertiser in a refund. The judge didn’t care and ordered Google to pay the $721 and $40.00 court costs.
Will this result in an influx of small lawsuits amongst terminated publishers and Google? Maybe.
Postscript: On May 22nd, the appeals courts reversed the decision based on finding evidence that the publisher did violate Google’s terms of service.
Share, Bookmark & Discuss This Article
More:
Keep Updated: News Via Email | News Via RSS Feed | News Via Twitter
See more stories like this in the Members Library! Check out the Google: AdSense, Google: Legal, Top News sections of the Members Library where this story is filed. Members also get access to exclusive video content, a members-only weekly & monthly newsletter, plus more. Check out all the benefits!
2 COMMENTS ON AdSense Publisher Sues Google And Wins
TOP STORIES
SEARCH NEWS BRIEFS
FEATURES & ANALYSIS
RECENT COMMENTS
- Robert said " There are smart phones that have RSS feed option in them. So even if your site is not mobile friendl"
- zanad said " How do these Google changes compare to the features Bing launched this week?"
- Maggie@losasso said " Great post! I think there will definitely be some interesting changes in online news coverage. It wi"
FREE DAILY SEARCH NEWS RECAP!
Stay on top of all the search news with our daily summary, the SearchCap newsletter. View a sample ›
STAY CURRENT THROUGHOUT THE DAY
Search Engine Land produces SMX, the Search Marketing Expo conference series. SMX events deliver the most comprehensive educational and networking experiences - whether you're just starting in search marketing or you're a seasoned expert.
SMX Web Site » | SMX Difference » | SMX News »
Join us at an upcoming SMX event:
- SMX West - March 2-4, 2010
- SMX Munich - March 23-24, 2010
- SMX Toronto - April 8-9, 2010
- SMX Sydney - April 22-23, 2010
- SMX Advanced London - May 17-18, 2010
- SMX Advanced Seattle - June 8-9, 2010
- SMX East - October 4-6, 2010
- SMX Stockholm - October, 2010
Learn more about search marketing with our free online webcasts and webinars from our sister site, Search Marketing Now. Upcoming online events include:
- Making Online Marketing Relevant and Responsive: Tactics and A Tool for Success - November 17, 2009
- Ask the Search Engines: War Stories from the World Tour - December 1, 2009
- Turning Clients Into PPC Champions: How to Make PPC Meaningful to "the Other Guys" - December 8, 2009
TRACK US SOCIALLY
- Wall Street Journal Recommended Reading
- Ad Age Power 150 Blog
- Technorati Top 100 Blog
- Techmeme Leaderboard Source
- Best Search Engine Community/Forum
Featured sites from our Blogroll
- Shoemoney – Skills to pay the bills
- LiveSide – Windows Live news and interviews
- Search Marketing Standard Magazine
- aimClear Search Marketing Blog
- SEO BlackHat: Black Hat SEO Blog
Get Your Search Engine Land
Premium Membership!
Become a premium member today and receive:
- Express commenting privileges & photo.
- Exclusive videos & newsletters.
- Discounts to our SMX conferences.
- Access to "How To" & Other Archives.
© 2009 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Google, Yahoo & Microsoft logos trademark respective companies and used with permission.
nice to see the courts ruling in favor of the little guy… go obama!
Just wanted to say i really respect and like your work. on sphinn: sadly I get frustrated with all the spammers and fakers and marketers in seo. I am embarrassed to say I’m in the industry, to my friends who are programmers/developers/designers, and look down on SEO. This is where some of my rebelliousness comes from. I am laying that down, I am not going to publish any articles on any exploits on seo sites I’ve found, I’m not gonna call out seo for the greyhat techniques which work. I’m going to write my big picture philosophy of good content vs. noise, that it be either artistic/creative, or useful/practical technology/information. That ultimately what we put on the web should be beneficial for society. not manipulative/deceiving.
Uh, sorry borsodas, but what does our President have to do with a member of the judicial branch who was in all probability recommended and approved long before the Obama administration took office? (Sorry to nitpick.)
Barry: Re the AdSense Publisher himself, I’m curious why you didn’t mention that it was Aaron Greenspan, the originator of the precursor to Facebook at Harvard, and the plaintiff if an ongoing suit to get Google to stop considering “Facebook” as a trademark for the purposes of AdWords. It makes the AdSense suit seem like small potatoes, indeed.