Online marketer World Avenue USA settled charges with Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today over the use of the word "free" in its marketing e-mails, Internet pop-ups and banner advertisements.

Michelin North America announced its search for a new agency for its US passenger and light truck replacement tire business.

Global communications and technology provider Nortel is looking to harness some recent online social media buzz with its latest b-to-b push launching today.

Car manufacturers are turning a setback — rising gas prices — into an oppor­tunity to promote car sales. Last week, the average national price of a gallon of regular gas hit $3.62 — amid predictions from the US Energy Department the price would rise to a monthly average of $3.73 a gallon next month. American Suzuki Motor Corp. and Chrysler LLC each announced purchase incentives offering free gas to drivers.

Luxury car manufacturer Jaguar has awarded its global digital business to Euro RSCG Worldwide. The resulting efforts will be an integrated brand strategy that includes all online advertising and CRM responsibilities, as well as building and maintaining jaguar.com.

Breaking from the standard models of online ad network and ad exchange, The Ad Database — a search engine that compiles online ad opportunities by cost, ad size, demographics and location — has recently launched.

The first felony spam conviction in the US will be revisited, calling into question laws applied to commercial vs. noncommercial spam. The Supreme Court of Virginia on April 28 agreed to a limited rehearing of its decision against Jeremy D. Jaynes, who was sentenced to nine years in prison for violating Virginia's 2003 Anti-Spam Act in February.

Online home improvement retailer Polsteins Home & Beyond recently adopted eWayDirect's e-mail platform to improve its retention marketing efforts with the channel. Edison, NJ-based Home & Beyond will be using the online service company's e-mail marketing platform with its pre-existing consumer database.

Several recent studies are reporting that the gap is growing between e-mail marketers' use of their medium and consumers' propensity to respond to it. A new report from Forrester Research, Break Free From Bad Email, estimated that poor e-mail marketing practices can diminish customer value by increasing customer attrition and decreasing annual customer value.

In preparation for the US transition to digital-only TV broadcasts on Febru­ary 17, 2009, the US Federal Commu­nications Commission held an auction last month for the 700-megahertz band licenses that will become available. This spectrum is considered especially valuable for its ability to transmit through walls and achieve faster download speeds - technology that is expected to advance the size of the market.