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Politech is the oldest Internet resource devoted to politics and technology. Launched in 1994 by Declan McCullagh, the mailing list has chronicled the growing intersection of culture, technology, politics, and law. Since 2000, so has the Politech web site.
******** From: rms@privacyfoundation.org (Richard M. Smith) To: "'Declan McCullagh'" <declan@well.com> Subject: Yahoo - Gator Sues Interactive Advertising Bureau -- IAB -- Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2001 20:20:23 -0400 <http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010828/280331.html>http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010828/280331.html Tuesday August 28, 1:37 pm Eastern Time Press Release SOURCE: Gator Gator Sues Interactive Advertising Bureau -- IAB -- Gator Asserts Legality of its Newest Ad Vehicle, & Accuses Association of Unfounded Accusations and Threats REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 28, 2001--Gator filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court against the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) to protect the right to utilize Gator's newest advertising vehicle, the Companion Pop-up Banner, which occasionally pops up to deliver a relevant advertisement in a window that floats over the banner advertisements on some web pages. The suit was brought in response to the IAB's unfounded accusations regarding the legality of this new advertising vehicle and their threats of legal action against Gator. The lawsuit seeks the federal court's declaration that the IAB's complaints concerning the company's Companion Pop-up Banner Windows are unfounded. ``The danger to the IAB's online publishers isn't Gator -- the danger is irrelevant advertising,'' said Gator CEO Jeff McFadden. ``Millions of web users are already ignoring 99.8% of current banners ads, and publishers are perishing at an alarming rate. We believe our proven targeting model can dramatically help to rejuvenate online advertising, so we refuse to allow the IAB to falsely claim that Pop-up Banners are illegal or to interfere in any way with our advertisers' right to deliver relevant advertising, or our consumers' right to decide for themselves what is or isn't displayed on their own computer screens. ``I can understand why the IAB, who represents our competitors, doesn't like our Pop-up Banner Windows, but their claims about its legality are utterly baseless,'' emphasized McFadden. ``As a leading web property representing over eight million users and 200 advertisers, we have a responsibility to aggressively defend the rights of all concerned,'' McFadden continued. ``We will vigorously defend our new Pop-up Banner vehicle, just as we have in the past year successfully defended our other ad vehicles.'' It's All About Relevance Analysts say Gator's marketing tactics are extremely effective. In an August 10, 2001 ``Weekly Click Through'' report, Thomas Weisel Partners asserted, ``'Gatoring' just might be the most cost-effective -- and just plain effective -- way to reach consumers now, in our view.'' ``The Gator model offers a powerful proposition to advertisers,'' stated McFadden. ``Our technology might, for example, anonymously recognize when one of our eight million users looks at minivans on an auto-maker's web site, and respond by displaying minivan ads in Pop-up Banner windows. Most web sites have no idea which of their visitors is shopping for a minivan. During the past year, Gator's pop-up vehicles and behavioral marketing engine enabled our Fortune 500 clients to enjoy click-through rates up to 50 times greater than traditional online advertising.'' ``Online banner advertising is broken, and it's time for publishers to stop applying the same rules and guidelines to online advertising that have been applied to offline mass marketing,'' stated Frederick Newell, author of The New Rules of Marketing, Loyalty.com, and most recently Wireless Rules. ``If Gator is willing to use their technology to help publishers deliver relevant advertising that is perceived as useful information to consumers, then those publishers will be doing the consumer a great service. We have to give the consumer what they want because the consumer is what this is all about.'' Is it Legal? ``We understand that Web site publishers want total control over what consumers see. We believe that the central issue is that every consumer has the right to decide what software they want to run on their own personal computer, and to decide what information they want to display on their own computer screen,'' said L. Scott Primak, Gator Director of Legal Affairs. ``When consumers download Gator's free software they are shown an informational screen that clearly describes that they are getting our software at no charge and are allowing Gator to display advertising and information based upon the web sites they visit. The consumer must click a permission acceptance button to install the software.'' Gator's Pop-up Banner Windows are separate from the browser and don't modify the underlying browser window or the content of any web page. The consumer sees the site publishers' ad first, and can choose which ad to click. The consumer also can set the time delay or change the default location of the branded Pop-up Banner Windows. Like any other window, the consumer can drag a Pop-up Banner Window to a different location or click on the ``X'' to close the window. ``Consumer empowerment is a double-edged sword,'' said McFadden, ``because consumers can easily remove our software from their computers, we must continually deliver value to them if we want to retain them as Gator users.'' About Gator Gator produces a suite of software that enriches the Internet experience for millions of users, and has built one of the world's largest in-context behavioral marketing networks. Gator has quickly become the leader in the online companion software space, assisting users over 100 million times at over 700,000 unique web sites each month. Gator's enterprise clients include the leading Fortune 500 advertisers in Automotive, Financial Services, Entertainment, Retail and Consumer Package Goods. Gator is a privately held company based in Redwood City, CA -- <http://www.Gator.com>http://www.Gator.com. For interviews or more information contact A.J. Desjardins at Niehaus Ryan Wong, Inc., 650/827-7022, <mailto:aj@nrwpr.com>aj@nrwpr.com. Contact: Niehaus Ryan Wong, Inc. A.J. Desjardins, 650/827-7022 <mailto:aj@nrwpr.com>aj@nrwpr.com ******** From: rms@privacyfoundation.org (Richard M. Smith) To: "'Declan McCullagh'" <declan@well.com> Subject: Interactive Advertising Bureau -IAB- Asserts Gator.com's Business Practices Violate the Contract, Trademark and Copyright Interests of Web Publishers and Advertisers Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2001 16:15:50 -0400 Message-ID: <002201c12ffe$3db2a100$0f01a8c0@tiac.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0023_01C12FDC.B6A10100" X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal This press release was just sent out today from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) expressing their displeasure with the Gator browser plugin. Since the Gator plugin is working on a user's behalf, there might be a fair-use argument to be made here. Richard ================================================================ http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010828/282178.html Unfair Competition and Deceptive Practices in Violation of Federal Laws NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--August 28, 2001-- Believing that the unfair business practices of Gator.com substantially infringe on the trademark, copyright and intellectual property rights of Web publishers and advertisers, and do not adequately protect consumers from unauthorized content, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the leading voice of the interactive advertising industry, intends to immediately pursue options on behalf of its members with the appropriate federal agencies. Gator.com is a company that offers a service that results in the deception of consumers and advertisers and interferes with the valid contractual relationships between Web publishers and their advertisers. Its service - OfferCompanion(SM), software bundled with digital wallet Gator - contains a feature, Companion Popup Banner, which obscures advertising and/or editorial content on Web sites through the use of specially designed pop-up windows and without the consent of Web sites or innocent third party advertisers ``Consumers who choose to use the Gator.com software for various services may not be aware that in return for these services, they are allowing Gator.com to cover up advertising sold by the Web site with advertising sold by Gator.com. The consumer has not replaced the advertising by him or herself. Gator.com has done it, and is thus presenting a false and misleading business relationship between the sites and the substituted advertisers,'' said IAB President & CEO Robin Webster. ``Additionally, they are combining sites' copyrighted content with advertising which may not meet the quality and content requirements of particular sites. We also believe that this service illegally interferes with valid contractual business relationships.'' ``Gator.com's practice of visually altering publishers' content and obscuring the advertisements of unsuspecting advertisers, without notice, substantially interferes with the contractual relationships between Web publishers and advertisers,'' Ms. Webster continued. ``In effect, Gator.com is falsely implying relationships that do not exist. Publishers and advertisers who have chosen to be associated with one another are having those relationships damaged and are suffering grave financial harm by losing business opportunities. Consumers are similarly being deceived by the company and are being denied the full experience of the Web sites as intended by the publishers.'' The IAB supports its members' efforts to protect their intellectual property and business relationships with their advertisers. It is currently in discussion with a number of interactive advertising industry organizations in urging appropriate governmental agencies to investigate misleading business practices. The IAB welcomes the participation of other parties in the interactive advertising industry that are interested in protecting their intellectual property rights and the advertising they have sold or purchased. About the IAB Founded in 1996, the IAB is the industry's leading interactive advertising association. Its activities include evaluating and recommending standards and practices, fielding research to document the effectiveness of the interactive medium, and educating the advertising industry about the use of interactive advertising. Membership includes companies that are actively engaged in the sale of interactive advertising. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------- Contact: FAVA PR Stu Ginsburg, 917/206-3088 917/554-0725 -- cell sginsburg@iab.net ******** ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------