[DMCA-Activists] UPS Joins Anti-Gator Fray

[Seth Johnson]

> http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/10789_1474911

UPS Joins Anti-Gator Fray 

By Christopher Saunders 
October 2, 2002

United Parcel Service is joining a long list of plaintiffs
in suing Gator Corp. over its online advertising practices. 

The Atlanta-based shipping giant is seeking unspecified
damages and an injunction prohibiting Gator from delivering
pop-up ads to users of its software. 

Gator, based in Redwood City, Calif., provides
time-management and "digital wallet" software that also
delivers pop-up ads based on the site that a user is
viewing. One of the firm's pitches to advertisers centers
around using the service as a competitive tool -- so that an
advertiser's special offer could appear when a consumer
visits a rival's Web site. 

That practice served as the touching-off point for the UPS
lawsuit, according to sources close to the case. Gator's
software has been delivering ads to UPS.com visitors,
promoting products and services not affiliated with the
shipper -- including advertisements for competitor FedEx. 

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta,
charges that Gator falsely represents the origin of the ads,
causing confusion in consumers' minds. 

Spokespeople from UPS confirmed the circumstances
surrounding the lawsuit but declined further comment, saying
that the company had just entered into discussions with
Gator after filing the suit. 

Added a Gator spokesperson, "We are talking to the other
side about all the relevant facts and issues." The firm also
declined to comment further. 

It's the first time that Gator itself has been sued
specifically over delivering ads for rival Web sites --
although at least one of its clients has found itself in hot
water for the practice. In June, Weight Watchers won a
lawsuit against DietWatch.com, which had been buying Gator
ads that appeared when users visited its rival's Web site. 

In late 2001, retailer L.L. Bean threatened action with a
sent a cease and desist letter, warning Gator to stop
serving ads for a competitor to llbean.com visitors. That
action has since prompted two lawsuits by Gator against the
Freeport, Maine-based retailer. The cases are still pending. 

UPS' complaint also comes as Gator is fighting broader
charges brought against it in June. At that time, a number
of big-name Web publishers banded together in a suit
alleging that Gator's practices hijacked traffic to their
sites and infringed their copyrights. 

The publishers -- Washington Post Co. (Quote, Company Info,
News), The New York Times Co. (Quote, Company Info, News),
Dow Jones & Co. (Quote, Company Info, News), and Gannett
(Quote, Company Info, News), among others -- demanded that
Gator cease serving pop-up ads and return profits to the
sites on which the ads appeared. 

Last year, lawyers for the New York-based Interactive
Advertising Bureau -- which includes many of the plaintiffs
-- began exploring whether to ask for government regulatory
action against the firm, due to a new Gator product that
replaced publishers' ad units with its own. 

After trading blows in the media -- and a suit by Gator
charging the IAB with "unfounded accusations" -- the two
parties announced their intention to postpone legal action
in favor of working to create mutually-beneficial
advertising units. As of yet, little has come out of the
initiative.