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Google is being sued by a man represented by a law firm that has successfully sued Google several times in the past. The firm is Kabateck Brown Kellner and the man is David Almeida, a local businessman from Massachusetts who claims that Google’s sign up process for AdWords wrongly conceals that advertiser text ads will run on AdSense content partner sites unless they affirmatively opt out.

Here’s a relevant factual passage from the complaint:

This action arises from the fact that Google does not inform its advertisers that if they leave the content bid CPC input blank, Google will use the advertiser’s CPC bid for clicks occurring on the content network. Google does this despite the fact that ads placed on the content network are demonstrably inferior to ads appearing on search result pages. Because there is no option to opt out of content ads during the AdWords registgration process, advertisers reasonably believe that by leaving the content ad CPC input blank they can opt out of having their ads placed on the content network. Google, however, has charged and continues to charge those advertisers who leave content ad CPC input blank for content ads on third party websites.

The suit states three claims: unjust enrichment, fraudulent concealment and unfair or deceptive business practices under the California Business and Professions Code. The lawsuit also announces itself as a class action. If this were only about an individual plaintiff, assuming he could win on liability, damages would simply be the value of clicks on the content network refunded. But a class action represents millions of potential dollars for the opportunistic law firm.

I would doubt that there can be any finding of fraud against Google but the other claims might be more viable. Opting out of AdSense is a fairly straightforward process after account setup. Still, the case can probably escape a motion to dismiss by Google and will likely go into the discovery phase.

Many auto insurance companies, feeling like personal injury lawyers were seeing them as easy targets, started to take a harder line and ligate cases rather than settle them out of the gate. This case might wind up settling but Google has incentives to fight these cases more vigorously and “send a message” to law firms who may see the search engine as a deep pocket and an easy target.

Yahoo! today announced that it has launched a new research lab in Haifa, Israel — its first in the region. The Yahoo! Research Israel Lab will be led by Dr. Ronny Lempel, a renowned information organization and retrieval expert who will report directly to Dr. Ricardo Baeza-Yates, vice president of Yahoo! Research.

The Yahoo! Research Israel Lab, which opens today, will focus on boiling down complex technology problems into simple solutions to change the game in Web search. As a demonstration of its commitment to next-generation search, Yahoo! recently opened Yahoo! Labs - Bangalore and appointed eminent scientist Dr. Rajeev Rastogi to head the new India lab. Yahoo!’s arrival in Israel furthers the company’s commitment to discovering new technologies that deliver compelling experiences on the Web.

“Search is still in its infancy,” said Prabhakar Raghavan, head of Yahoo! Research. “At Yahoo!, we are working on the hard core science that can lead to search experiences that are significantly beyond the current art.” He continues to say, “Ronny Lempel is a great addition to the world-class team that we have assembled to develop a new approach to Web search. His expertise in search technologies and ties to local academia will help us draw on the best talent and knowledge from across the region and strengthen our worldwide R&D efforts.”

Lempel previously worked at the Information Retrieval Group at IBM’s Haifa Research Lab, focusing on research and development for enterprise search systems. Prior to joining IBM, he received his BSc., MSc. and Ph.D. in Computer Science at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. He has authored numerous papers and received several awards for his work on search engine technology, and has twice won the Best Presentation Award at the International World Wide Web Conference.

“Israel is fertile ground for incredibly talented technologists, researchers and engineers, and the Yahoo! Research Israel Lab provides the best opportunity to create the technologies that will underpin the next generation of search on the Internet,” Lempel said. “I look forward to building the Haifa team with the best talent this region has to offer.”