[JURIST] A federal judge in Los Angeles has given preliminary approval to a settlement in a class-action lawsuit alleging that Yahoo! Inc. [corporate website] overcharged for pay-per-click advertising. As part of the agreement, approved Wednesday by US District Judge Christina Snyder [official profile] of the Central District of California [official website], Yahoo will offer a claims process [Yahoo press release] overseen by a retired federal judge. Advertisers can submit claims for "click fraud" dating to January 2004 and will receive full refunds pending a Yahoo investigation. Yahoo also has agreed to pay $4.95 million in legal fees from the lawsuit.

Yahoo's search-engine rival Google Inc. [corporate website] agreed to settle a similar lawsuit [JURIST report] in March, with Google's liability limited to $90 million. An Arkansas court has scheduled a hearing for July 24 to determine whether the Google settlement should receive final approval. AP has more.