Frivolous lawsuits are more comical then anything else. It is sad that they waste taxpayer money, paper, people’s time, etc. but at least they are worth a chuckle… well most of them. The latest is a former AdSense publisher who is suing Google because she was removed from the AdSense program after clicking on her own ads, a definate no-no.
eWeek.com has the story in detail. Theresa B. Bradley, owner of Brava Corp filed a 25 page complaint accusing Google of several counts of fraud and misrepresentation, including misrepresentation in commercial advertising, and of “willful, wanton, fraudulent and malicious” conduct regarding its AdSense product. The suit also alleges misrepresentation in interstate commerce. She is asking for $250,000 in damages.
She is basically ticked because she claims to have spent 100 hours to place and review AdSense advertisements on her web site, which Google subsequently removed. Why would Google do such an awful thing? Most likely because she violated the AdSense terms of service, namely clicking on her own ads. However, Bradley denied clicking on the ads except to verify that the advertisers were not selling competing products. Uum, that’s clicking on your ads. Duh!
It gets better. Bradley claims that her brief business relationship with Google has caused her irreparable harm by damaging her reputation and the reputation of her products and services. How so? Because AdSense no longer appears on her site? If anything has damaged her reputation it is the fact that she has now filed suit against Google and it has made the news.
I’m almost certain the suit will be thrown out of court because it is not only frivolous but asinine as well. A word of warning to AdSense publishers, “Don’t click on your own ads!” If you do and get banned, don’t go crying over spilt milk.
