Juno Sues TargitMail for $3.3 Million
No trial date has been set yet in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit brought by Juno Online Services against TargitMail.com over money owed for e-mail ads.Juno, a New York-based Internet service provider, is seeking $3.3 million. The provider also is suing TargitMail's parent company, Global Technology Marketing International LLC.
According to the complaint, filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the ISP sent e-mail ads to its subscribers on behalf of TargitMail, based on previously agreed-upon demographic data. Juno said the permission-based direct e-mail services provider failed to make a guaranteed payment of $1.3 million, under a previous agreement between the two companies.
No one at Juno or TargitMail was available yesterday to comment on the lawsuit.
The complaint also contends that in January TargitMail violated its agreement with Juno by canceling a contract between the two companies. If the contract had not been canceled, Juno said it would have been entitled to an additional $2 million.
In October Juno announced that TargitMail, Portsmouth, NH, would be the exclusive reseller of e-mail advertising on its free Internet service. The complaint said the deal called for Juno to pay TargitMail 60 percent of the gross revenue generated from the e-mail ads and 17 cents per month for each Juno subscriber who checked his e-mail at least once in the previous month. Juno claims to have delivered demographic data on 2.5 million subscribers a month.
Separately, Juno said a California judge earlier this month refused to extend or broaden a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit filed against Juno by free ISP NetZero Inc. The order, which was granted to NetZero in January, prevented Juno from displaying third-party ads on its Juno Guide floating ad banner.
With the restraining order lifted, Juno is now permitted to resume selling advertising on its Juno Guide.
