• August 3, 2009

A federal judge has again dismissed a lawsuit against Google charging the company with displaying fraudulent ringtone ads. Last week, U.S. 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. 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.

Fogel previously dismissed the case last December, but at the time he ruled Goddard could re-file the complaint. Last week, however, he dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning that it can't be refiled. Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University, first reported news of the dismissal on his blog.