• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, September 27, 2017

Google's YouTube is urging a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by Zombie Go Boom over recent ad policies that allegedly resulted in a massive drop in revenue for the video channel.

YouTube says in new court papers that the terms of its partner program -- which Zombie Go Boom participated in -- specify that the company need not display ads along with videos.

"When plaintiffs entered into this agreement ... they expressly agreed that YouTube would be under no obligation to show ads on any of their videos and could thus determine when it was appropriate to allow such ads to be displayed," YouTube writes this week in a motion asking U.S. District Court Edward Chen in the Northern District of California to dismiss the lawsuit.

The legal battle dates to July, when Zombie Go Boom owners James Sweet and Chuck Mere sued YouTube over relatively new ad policies aimed at making the service safe for brands. Sweet and Mere alleged that they earned between $10,000 and $15,000 a month in ad revenue until late March, when YouTube rolled out new guidelines aimed at preventing ads from appearing on potentially offensive videos.

Sweet and Mere alleged that their videos -- which they say are similar to TV programs like "Mythbusters" and "The Walking Dead" -- were "de-monetized" as part of Google's initiative to reassure advertisers that their ads won't support problematic content -- including material flagged as violent or offensive.

After March 27, Zombie Go Boom's ad revenue fell to between $20 and $40 a day, according to the complaint. The lawsuit included a host of allegations, including that Google violated California's unfair competition law and broke its contract with them.

Google argues that all counts should be dismissed for several reasons, including that it never promised to display ads. "Any decision by Google to limit the ads that run in connection with Plaintiffs’ videos could not have breached the parties’ contract because that agreement expressly disclaims any obligation on YouTube to display ads," the company writes.

Google has defeated other lawsuits by companies that alleged their businesses were harmed by a change in policy. Earlier this year, a judge dismissed a lawsuit against Google by e-ventures Worldwide, which claimed its business suffered after its sites were removed from the search results. In that matter, the ruled that Google has a free speech right to decide which search results to display.