September 2001

Gator Sues Interactive Advertising Bureau -- IAB -- Gator Asserts Legality of its Newest Ad Vehicle, & Accuses Association of Unfounded Accusations and Threats REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 28, 2001--Gator filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court against the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) to protect the right to utilize Gator's newest advertising vehicle, the Companion Pop-up Banner, which occasionally pops up to deliver a relevant advertisement in a window that floats over the banner advertisements on some web pages.

The suit was brought in response to the IAB's unfounded accusations regarding the legality of this new advertising vehicle and their threats of legal action against Gator. The lawsuit seeks the federal court's declaration that the IAB's complaints concerning the company's Companion Pop-up Banner Windows are unfounded.

``The danger to the IAB's online publishers isn't Gator -- the danger is irrelevant advertising,'' said Gator CEO Jeff McFadden. ``Millions of web users are already ignoring 99.8% of current banners ads, and publishers are perishing at an alarming rate. We believe our proven targeting model can dramatically help to rejuvenate online advertising, so we refuse to allow the IAB to falsely claim that Pop-up Banners are illegal or to interfere in any way with our advertisers' right to deliver relevant advertising, or our consumers' right to decide for themselves what is or isn't displayed on their own computer screens.

``I can understand why the IAB, who represents our competitors, doesn't like our Pop-up Banner Windows, but their claims about its legality are utterly baseless,'' emphasized McFadden. ``As a leading web property representing over eight million users and 200 advertisers, we have a responsibility to aggressively defend the rights of all concerned,'' McFadden continued. ``We will vigorously defend our new Pop-up Banner vehicle, just as we have in the past year successfully defended our other ad vehicles.''

It's All About Relevance Analysts say Gator's marketing tactics are extremely effective. In an August 10, 2001 ``Weekly Click Through'' report, Thomas Weisel Partners asserted, ``'Gatoring' just might be the most cost-effective -- and just plain effective -- way to reach consumers now, in our view.'' ``The Gator model offers a powerful proposition to advertisers,'' stated McFadden. ``Our technology might, for example, anonymously recognize when one of our eight million users looks at minivans on an auto-maker's web site, and respond by displaying minivan ads in Pop-up Banner windows. Most web sites have no idea which of their visitors is shopping for a minivan. During the past year, Gator's pop-up vehicles and behavioral marketing engine enabled our Fortune 500 clients to enjoy click-through rates up to 50 times greater than traditional online advertising.''

``Online banner advertising is broken, and it's time for publishers to stop applying the same rules and guidelines to online advertising that have been applied to offline mass marketing,'' stated Frederick Newell, author of The New Rules of Marketing, Loyalty.com, and most recently Wireless Rules. ``If Gator is willing to use their technology to help publishers deliver relevant advertising that is perceived as useful information to consumers, then those publishers will be doing the consumer a great service. We have to give the consumer what they want because the consumer is what this is all about.'' Is it Legal? ``We understand that Web site publishers want total control over what consumers see.

We believe that the central issue is that every consumer has the right to decide what software they want to run on their own personal computer, and to decide what information they want to display on their own computer screen,'' said L. Scott Primak, Gator Director of Legal Affairs. ``When consumers download Gator's free software they are shown an informational screen that clearly describes that they are getting our software at no charge and are allowing Gator to display advertising and information based upon the web sites they visit. The consumer must click a permission acceptance button to install the software.''

Gator's Pop-up Banner Windows are separate from the browser and don't modify the underlying browser window or the content of any web page. The consumer sees the site publishers' ad first, and can choose which ad to click. The consumer also can set the time delay or change the default location of the branded Pop-up Banner Windows. Like any other window, the consumer can drag a Pop-up Banner Window to a different location or click on the ``X'' to close the window.

``Consumer empowerment is a double-edged sword,'' said McFadden, ``because consumers can easily remove our software from their computers, we must continually deliver value to them if we want to retain them as Gator users.'' About Gator Gator produces a suite of software that enriches the Internet experience for millions of users, and has built one of the world's largest in-context behavioral marketing networks. Gator has quickly become the leader in the online companion software space, assisting users over 100 million times at over 700,000 unique web sites each month. Gator's enterprise clients include the leading Fortune 500 advertisers in Automotive, Financial Services, Entertainment, Retail and Consumer Package Goods.

Gator is a privately held company based in Redwood City, CA -- <http://www.Gator.com>http://www.Gator.com.

For interviews or more information contact A.J. Desjardins at Niehaus Ryan Wong, Inc., 650/827-7022, <mailto:aj@nrwpr.com>aj@nrwpr.com.
Contact: Niehaus Ryan Wong, Inc. A.J. Desjardins, 650/827-7022 <mailto:aj@nrwpr.com>aj@nrwpr.com

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