Yahoo vs. Checkmate: Class Action Settlement?
 

Anyone else get this email?

If you advertised with Yahoo ... and I quote:

"You received this Notice because a search of Yahoo!?s computer records indicates that you are a current or former Yahoo! account holder who bid and paid for advertising placement on Yahoo!?s Search Marketing System at some point between January 1, 1998 and July 31, 2006. This Notice provides a summary of the terms of the proposed settlement. It also explains the lawsuit, your legal rights under the settlement, what benefits are available to you under the settlement, and how to get them."


Hmm, that will be a LOT of settlements...

I got two of those emails today.

yup got the same one...


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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

WESTERN DIVISION

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CHECKMATE STRATEGIC GROUP, INC.,
a Florida corporation, individually, and purportedly
on behalf of all others similarly situated,

Plaintiff vs.,

YAHOO! INC., a Delaware corporation, and DOES 1 THROUGH
100, Inclusive,

Defendants.

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Case No.: CV 05-4588 CAS (FMOx)
NOTICE OF PENDENCY OF CLASS ACTION, PROPOSED SETTLEMENT
AND PROPOSED HEARING DATE FOR COURT APPROVAL

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THIS NOTICE MAY AFFECT YOUR RIGHTS

PLEASE READ ALL OF IT CAREFULLY

ATTENTION: ALL PERSONS OR ENTITIES WHICH BID AND PAID
FOR ADVERTISING PLACEMENT IN YAHOO!'S SEARCH MARKETING
SYSTEM BETWEEN JANUARY 1, 1998 AND JULY 31, 2006


Dear Yahoo!, Inc. Customer,

This notice (the "Notice") informs you of a proposed
settlement of class action claims against Yahoo!, Inc.
(defined as Yahoo!, Inc., Yahoo! Search Marketing,
Overture Services, Inc., and GoTo.com, Inc.). For the
sake of brevity and clarity, Yahoo!, Inc. will be
referred to for the remainder of this Notice simply as
Yahoo!. This Notice describes the proposed settlement
and informs you of your rights as a settlement class
person. You are being sent this Notice because you have
been identified as a Yahoo! customer who paid for
advertising services between January 1, 1998 and July
31, 2006. Yahoo! has agreed, under the terms of the
Settlement, to provide you with the opportunity to
submit a valid and timely claim form through which you
may be eligible to receive advertising credits.

READ THIS FIRST

1. WHY SHOULD I READ THIS?

This Notice, given pursuant to an Order of the Court
dated June 28, 2006, describes a proposed settlement of
a class action against Yahoo!, and you have been
identified as a Class Member.

2. WHY DID I RECEIVE THIS NOTICE?

You received this Notice because a search of Yahoo!'s
computer records indicates that you are a current or
former Yahoo! account holder who bid and paid for
advertising placement on Yahoo!'s Search Marketing
System at some point between January 1, 1998 and July
31, 2006. This Notice provides a summary of the terms
of the proposed settlement. It also explains the
lawsuit, your legal rights under the settlement, what
benefits are available to you under the settlement, and
how to get them.

3. WHAT IS A CLASS ACTION?

In a class action, one or more individuals or
businesses, called Class Representatives (in this case,
Checkmate Strategic Group, Inc.) sue on behalf of
others that have similar claims. All of these other
individuals or businesses are members of the "class."
One court resolves the issues for all Class Members,
except for those who exclude themselves from the Class.
United States District Judge Christina A. Snyder is in
charge of this class action.

4. WHAT ARE THE CRITICAL DATES?

November 20, 2006
The last date to submit your Assertion of Right
to Participate in Additional Claims Review Process
form, if you wish to be eligible to possibly receive
advertising credits.

October 14, 2006
The last date to submit your written request to
be excluded from the settlement if you are not
willing to be bound by it and do not want to be
eligible to receive advertising credits.

October 14, 2006
The last date to submit any written objection to
the settlement.

November 20, 2006
The hearing on any objections and to give final
approval to the settlement.

5. DO I HAVE TO DO ANYTHING?

The settlement is subject to the approval by the Court.
If the Court approves the settlement and it becomes
effective, you will automatically be eligible to submit
the Assertion of Right to Participate in Additional
Claims Review Process form (hereinafter "Assertion of
Right to Participate"), indicating that you intend to
file a claim form for Yahoo! advertising credits and
will give up your ability to sue Yahoo! over the
subject matter of this case. The Assertion of Right to
Participate form is available for download at
www.checkmatesettlement.com. The form must be printed
out, filled out completely, and mailed via certified or
registered mail to the Claims Administrator at Claims
Administrator, PO Box 1340, Minneapolis, MN,
55440-1340, by November 20, 2006. You may attend the
court hearing described below if you wish, but your
attendance or non-attendance will not affect your
eligibility to submit the Assertion of Right to
Participate form. You do not need to appear in court,
and you do not need to hire an attorney in this case.
You may object to the proposed settlement if you so
desire.

6. WHAT IS THIS CASE ABOUT?

Plaintiff Checkmate Strategic Group, Inc. claims that
Yahoo! has breached its contracts with Class Person and
committed unfair business practices under California
Business & Professions Code § 17200 et seq., including
improperly collecting revenue by charging and/or
overcharging Class Persons for clicks that were click
fraud, click through fraud, fraudulent clicks, click
spam, invalid clicks, unwanted clicks, unqualified
clicks, improper clicks, non-converting clicks,
inadequately converting clicks, clicks that were not
reasonably expected by Class Persons or otherwise
claimed by Class Persons as clicks for which Class
Persons should not have been charged, and improperly
collecting revenue by charging and/or overcharging
Class Persons for clicks where users did not actively
choose the Class Persons' listings (hereinafter
"Challenged Clicks").

A. The Proposed Settlement

Since filing the action, Plaintiff, through Class
Counsel, has conducted an investigation of the facts,
including review of Yahoo!'s billing procedures and
Yahoo!'s click filtering systems, interviews with key
Yahoo! personnel, and has analyzed the relevant legal
and factual issues. Class Counsel obtained substantial
information about the nature and extent of Yahoo!'s
challenged practices through this process.

Although Yahoo! does not believe it has done anything
wrong and continues to deny all claims and allegations
of wrongdoing asserted in the Action, Plaintiff and
Yahoo! agreed to enter into a settlement agreement
after an extensive exchange of information and vigorous
arms-length negotiation. If approved by the Court, the
settlement agreement will result in dismissal of this
case and final resolution of all claims raised. Such
dismissal will release Yahoo! from future liability for
the acts and practices complained of. The settlement
terms are described in full in a document known as
Stipulation and Settlement Agreement (hereinafter
"Agreement")(1). The Agreement is available for your
inspection at the clerk's office of the United States
District Court, Central District of California, Western
Division. The terms of the settlement, in summary form,
are as follows:

i) Yahoo! shall launch an online traffic quality
center, which will be available to its advertisers
within 90 calendar days of the Effective Date of the
settlement. The traffic quality center will include a
resource center which will contain FAQs, best practices
documents, traffic quality articles, enforcement
guidelines, and an advice column.

ii) Yahoo! shall designate a Yahoo! employee as a
traffic quality advocate who will be part of a traffic
quality group to fulfill the function of fielding
advertisers' concerns regarding traffic quality,
including its click fraud prevention efforts, within 90
calendar days of the Effective Date of the settlement.

iii) Within 90 calendar days of the Effective Date of
the settlement, Yahoo! shall start a program in which
it chooses at least three advertisers per year who will
be invited to Yahoo! to obtain special access to the
traffic quality team and additional information with
respect to Yahoo!'s click protection system, subject to
the advertisers' execution of nondisclosure agreements.

iv) Yahoo! shall work with third parties in an effort
to develop industry-wide standards that define click
fraud, set forth standards with respect to the
detection of click fraud and provide the public with
periodic general evaluations regarding the
effectiveness of providers' efforts to filter and
prevent the charging of click fraud to customers.

v) Yahoo! will temporarily lift its 60-day contractual
provision to allow Class Members to make click fraud
claims for the period from January 1, 2004 to July 31,
2006. Any Class Member that wishes to participate in
the additional claims review process will have to
complete the Assertion of Right to Participate form,
and mail by certified or registered mail the completed
form to the Claims Administrator on or before November
20, 2006.

B. Attorneys' Fees and Class Representative
Compensation

Class Counsel will request that the Courts award them
attorneys' fees and expenses. They intend to request
$4,950,000 in attorneys' fees plus costs in an amount
not to exceed $25,000. The fees and costs figures were
determined independently of negotiation of the other
terms of the settlement.

Class Counsel's petition for fees and expenses will be
filed with the court no later than October 30, 2006, and
may be reviewed by any interested party. The amount
paid for attorneys' fees, expenses, and costs will be
paid by Yahoo! and so will not diminish or affect any
Credits which Class Members may receive.

7. WHAT AM I GIVING UP IF I PARTICIPATE IN THE
SETTLEMENT?

The settlement provides that once the Court enters an
order finding the proposed settlement fair, adequate,
and reasonable and all appeals have been resolved or
all appeals periods have expired, those Class Members
who have not timely requested exclusion from this
Action shall be deemed to have and by operation of the
Final Judgment shall have fully, finally and forever
released, relinquished, and discharged all Released
Claims as set forth below.

Specifically, the settlement is intended to settle any
and all known and unknown claims from January 1, 1998
through July 31, 2006 against Yahoo! that Class Members
have asserted or could have asserted based upon or in
any way relating to, referring to, or arising out of
the charging or overcharging for Challenged Clicks (the
"Released Claims").

The settlement provides that once the Court enters an
order finding the proposed settlement fair, adequate,
and reasonable and all appeals have been resolved or
all appeals periods have expired, those Class Members
who have not timely requested exclusion from this
Action shall be deemed to have and by operation of the
Final Judgment shall have fully, finally and forever
released, relinquished, and discharged all Released
Claims as set forth below.

The release will extend to Yahoo! and its past or
present directors, officers, employees, partners,
principals, agents, predecessors, successors, parents,
affiliated and sister corporations, subsidiaries,
licensees, divisions, and related or affiliated
entities, and the Yahoo! Ad Partners (defined as all
Persons together with any past or present directors,
officers, employees, partners, principals, agents,
controlling shareholders, predecessors, successors,
parents, affiliated and sister corporations and
subsidiaries of same, that disseminated, displayed,
distributed, delivered, served, published, and/or
otherwise provided any Yahoo! Ad (defined as the
participation and/or the ability to participate in a
system which displays advertising, including without
limitation, titles and descriptions, uniform resource
locators, images, text and all other content delivered,
served, published, and/or otherwise displayed by Yahoo!
and the Yahoo! Ad Partners, including without
limitation, via any and all web sites, e-mails,
applications, and software, including without
limitation domain channels, downloadable applications,
content match, domain match, adware, spyware,
arbitrage, and e-mail campaigns)).

If the settlement is approved by the Court and not
otherwise terminated, the Court will dismiss the Action
with prejudice, and bar and permanently enjoin the
named Plaintiff and each Class Member from prosecuting
the Released Claims. As a result, once the judgment of
the Court in accordance with this settlement has become
final, each of the Class Members and their legal
successors-in-interest shall be deemed to have forever
given up any Released Claims against Yahoo! and the
other Released Parties. If you have purchased
advertising on the Yahoo! Search Marketing System
between January 1, 1998 and July 31, 2006, and do not
elect to exclude yourself from the Class, you will be
deemed to have entered in to this release and to have
released the above-described claims. If the settlement
is not approved by the Court or does not become final
for some other reason, the litigation will continue.

11. HOW DO I GET MORE INFORMATION?

A. Availability of the Pleadings, the Agreement, and
Other Papers in this Action

The Agreement, with its exhibits and all other papers
filed with the court relating to this action, are
available for inspection in the offices of the clerk of
the court identified above. The documents on file with
the court may be examined by any Class Member in person
or by counsel during normal court hours each day other
than on Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays.

Do not call or write the courts, other than as provided
above.

B. Settlement Administration Line

If you have questions, you may call a special
Settlement Administration line at 1-877-349-6449
weekdays, 9:00 a.m to 5:00 p.m., Pacific Standard Time.

B. Change of Address

If your present address is different from the address
on the envelope in which you received this Notice, or
if you did not receive this Notice directly but believe
you should have, you should call the Settlement
Administration line at 1-877-349-6449 and provide your
new address. Claims Administrator PO Box 1340
Minneapolis, MN 55440-1340

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1)The capitalized terms as used in this Notice have the
same meaning as the terms set forth in the Agreement.

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I got 42 emails of this suit. Time to add up all my Overture expenses, this should be at least 4-5X that of the Google suit :)
WG

Only 42 emails? You need more Yahoo accounts LOL

I should get about 70 in total if they're emailing all accounts including their dormant ones. This will be a bitch to go through tallying up all click buys :(
WG

My issue is that I had an account (or 2) waaaaay back, probably in '98/'99 and not a clue on what I spend/account details, etc. The email notice I got was to an addy that I spent chump change on Overture ... the other email addys would have been for sites long site sold, closed, etc.

Anyhow, I'm not going to worry about it, but WG ... you may have to pay your accountant overtime for this ;)

I told a lot of people Overture was scamming.

All my listings went to shit (after making 10k a month profit) in september 2005 and I was PISSED. A year before that it was impossible for me to turn any sizable profit.

If you call Yahoo they might be able to help you: 866-YAHOO-SM (924-6676)


If that doesn't work you could also ask the suit's administraion: 1-877-349-6449,

Thanks for the info, I may just to be sure - I honestly can't remember how much I did with Overture but it certainly is worth a check, I suppose :)

it says I have to return the form to participate in the addtional claims review process. Does this mean they will check your accounts for you ?

What should I do? Send the forms back?

Or will they send a claim form and we have to go through it all and stuff?
Not sure what to do. If there's a chance of some money then should send it back surely