Class Claims Google|Overcharges For AdWords

SAN JOSE, Calif. (CN) - Google overcharges customers of its AdWords program by charging them for ads placed on "low quality parked domain and error page Web sites," a class action claims in Federal Court. Ninety-nine percent of Google's $16.6 billion revenue in 2007 came from advertising, says named plaintiff Hal Levitte, who advertised his Boston law office through Google.

Levitte adds, "Google marketed AdWords by emphasizing the high quality of sites on which AdWords ads will be placed, and did not disclose Google's practice of placing ads on parked domains and error pages."

Levitte claims more than 16 percent of the clicks he paid for were from parked domains and error pages, from which he received no benefit.

When he demanded a refund for those charges, he says, Google replied that "the clicks you have been charged for appear to fit a pattern of normal activity."

Levitte demands restitution, disgorgement and special damages. He is represented by Robert Schubert.

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