Click Fraud

Our tech experience gives us an advantage over other firms.

Click fraud refers to a form of internet misconduct where a person or computer program clicks on an internet advertisement either solely to hurt a competitor or solely to generate pay-per-click revenue for the fraudulent clicker (and not out of interest in the advertised goods or services).

Our experience in conducting forensic investigations serves us well in click fraud disputes.

For example, a company can impose significant costs on a competitor by clicking on the competitor’s PPC advertisements in search engines over and over again. In these situations, an advertiser or search engine may rely on principles of unfair competition law, interference law, and trespass law as legal avenues for recourse against perpetrators.

In pay-per-click advertising, advertisers pay search companies each time a user clicks on an ad displayed by the search company. Publishers who run websites may display these ads, in return for a portion of the pay-per-click revenue. One form of click fraud occurs when the website owner clicks on the ads displayed on his or her own website. The owner of the website can generate significant revenue through this misconduct. In this situation, the website owner has typically breached the contract with the search company displaying the ads. As a consequence, the search company can terminate the contract and sue the website owner for breach of contract.

Kronenberger Rosenfeld has considerable experience in designing creative legal solutions to combat click fraud. To discuss a matter you may be facing, you can call Kronenberger Rosenfeld at 415-955-1155, ext. 120. Or you can submit your matter to us using our online case submission form.

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE

• Represented a registered agent and corporate formation services company in a lawsuit against a direct competitor that had implemented a fraudulent scheme to harm our client with fraudulent clicks in pay-per-click search engines.
• Represented a financial services company in click fraud claims against a competitor.
• Advised an international travel agency concerning click fraud by competitor.