The $90m deal needs to be approved by the presiding judge, but looks to be a good deal for Google

Under an agreed $90m (£50m) settlement of a class-action lawsuit over alleged click fraud, Google said on Wednesday that it would offer advertising credits to marketers who claim they were charged for invalid clicks and not reimbursed.

The total amount of credits, including attorneys' fees, will max out at $90m, Nicole Wong, associate general counsel at Google, wrote in a Google blog.

The lawsuit, filed in February 2005 in state court in Texarkana, Arkansas, accused the defendant search engines of charging advertisers for clicks on online advertisements that were fraudulent or done in bad faith and not with the intention of legitimate commerce. The lawsuit was filed by Lane's Gifts and Collectibles and Caulfield Investigations against Google, Yahoo, Time Warner and its America Online and Netscape subsidiaries, Lycos, FindWhat.com, now known as Miva Media, Buena Vista Internet Group doing business as Go.com, LookSmart and Ask Jeeves, now known as Ask.com.

"This agreement covers all advertisers who claim to have been charged but not reimbursed for invalid clicks dating from 2002 when we launched our 'cost per click' advertising programme through the date the settlement is approved by the judge," Wong wrote.

Currently, advertisers have 60 days to seek a credit for clicks they believe are fraudulent.

Full story: ZDNet UK