I read about this lawsuit over on 5 Star Affiliate Blog. Reading Kellie Stevens’ take on this is helpful too. I, for one, am glad to see this happen, since the networks have not tried very hard to get adware companies off their sites even when such behavior is against their TOS.

There are two lawsuits, one for merchants and one for affiliates. After all, both parties are damaged by this. Affiliates lose commissions and merchants end up paying out commissions unfairly.

I suspect that how this turns out will greatly depend on how well the judge can be made to understand the technologies involved, as well as what business practices are acceptable. This isn’t going to be an easy topic for most, as many judges don’t seem to be all that comfortable with technology. Just think back to that substitute teacher who got in trouble over the adware popups. If the lawyers and the judge had understood the technology better, they would have made a better decision in the first place.

If you want to read more about this, go to CJclassaction.com and read up on it. If you’re a merchant or affiliate with one of these companies you may even want to sign up.

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