In May, LL Bean accused retailers Nordstrom, JC Penney, Atkins Nutritionals and Gevalia Kaffee of trading on the L L Bean name through their use of pop-up ad technology from the controversial behavioural marketing company Claria Corporation (previously known as Gator).
Claria is well known in the internet community for its software, which delivers pop-up ads on behalf of its clients to third-party web sites without permission from the operators of those sites.
The software examines keywords, URLs and search terms in use on the user's browser and then selects which ads to display to that user. These ads often refer to competitors of the site being visited.
LL Bean has now announced that it has entered into settlement agreements with Gevalia Kaffe and Atkins Nutritionals, the terms of which prohibit both Gevalia and Atkins from permitting pop-up ads for their companies to appear on the LL Bean web site.
The settlements also include an undisclosed payment of damages to LL Bean.
"This is good news for LL Bean and countless consumers who are fed up with spyware-enabled advertising practices that invade personal computers and the privacy of their families," said Mary Lou Kelley, LL Bean's Vice President of E-Commerce.
In June LL Bean was on the receiving end of a lawsuit from Claria over the e-tailer's pursuit of Nordstrom, JC Penney, Atkins and Gevalia. Claria said LL Bean was indulging in frivolous lawsuits against third parties as part of a litigation strategy against Claria.