Uber counter sued for $20m by Fetch in unpaid invoices
Uber is being counter sued for $20m by Dentsu subsidiary and mobile agency Fetch which claimed that the taxi app company was yet to pay it $19.7m in unpaid invoices as reported by CNBC.
Uber being sued for $20m by Fetch in unpaid invoices
In a court filing, Fetch called Uber a "faithless business partner." Fetch further claimed that its work helped Uber acquire more than 35 million new users.
Uber and Fetch have been engrossed in a legal battle since September last year. It was Uber which first seeked a minimum of $40m in damages after claiming Fetch ‘squandered tens of millions of dollars’ snapping up nonexistent, nonviewable or fraudulent ads which it then sought to cover up.Uber was first alerted to the fact that its ads were being run on blacklisted site, Breitbart News, in January. It then asked Fetch to shut down several ad networks that were showing the ads on the blacklisted site. However, according to Reuters, Uber dismissed that lawsuit on December 22, 2017.
Fetch responded, saying that it terminated its agreement with Uber "months ago" after the brand "stopped paying invoices for services" provided by over 50 small business suppliers engaged by Fetch to place Uber’s mobile advertising.
James Connelly, chief executive of Fetch, in a statement in September last year said: "We are shocked by Uber’s allegations which are unsubstantiated, completely without merit, and purposefully inflammatory so as to draw attention away from Uber’s unprofessional behaviour and failure to pay suppliers."
“Fetch takes ad fraud extremely seriously and has been working with clients and suppliers to minimise its impact within ad networks. It is unfortunate that Uber would misconstrue facts and use an industry-wide issue as a means of avoiding its contractual obligations. We vigorously deny the allegations from Uber and will be responding robustly to ensure we set the record straight."
According to Marco Ricci, chief executive at Adlooxad, ad fraud is set to cost brands $16.4bn – more than double the amount suggested by a previous study, the ANA Bot Baseline Report.