Legal experts have recently made speculations regarding the blocking of
internet pop-up advertisements, and have hypothesized that these
web-browser plug-ins may be illegal. Any lawsuit commenced by advertisers
would likely involve two arguments: the first one based on copyright
infringement through derivative works and secondly, the violation of a
website’s terms of agreement.

The issue arises because internet users are not merely ignoring these
advertisements, but rather have employed the use of a third party. As the
popularity of these ad-blockers increases, publishers argue that their
profits will deplete. This profitability argument is based on the claim
that pop-ups “work”. However, this was refuted in a survey conducted in
2004 by a UK-based web consultancy, which determined that 90% of users who
clicked on a pop-up ad were trying to get rid of them and had accidentally
clicked through them.*

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Posted in Copyright, Technology
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