- Image via CrunchBase
We can begin to speculate as to whether or not Google will loosen up on their ringtone policy now that they’ve been cleared in an advertising suit…
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Google for allegedly displaying fraudulent ringtone ads.
District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose ruled that the federal Communications Decency Act immunizes Google from liability for pay-per-click ads created through the AdWords platform.
“Providing third parties with neutral tools to create Web content is considered to be squarely within the protections of (the law),” Fogel wrote. “Even if a service provider knows that third parties are using such tools to create illegal content, the service’s provider’s failure to intervene is immunized.”
The lawsuit was brought by New Jersey resident Jenna Goddard, who alleged that she was billed for a ringtone subscription after entering her cell phone number at fraudulent site that she found via an AdWords ad.
She sought to hold Google responsible on the theory that the company violated its stated policy of requiring that mobile content ads directed users to landing pages with accurate pricing information. Goddard argued that she was a “third-party beneficiary” to the contract between Google and its AdWords advertisers.
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