A group of Web publishers filed suit in federal court this week against the scrappy Internet ad network Gator Corp., charging that Gator sells ads on their Web sites without authorization and pockets the proceeds.

"Gator Corp. is essentially a parasite that free rides on the hard work and investment" of the publishers, said the lawsuit, filed Tuesday by a dozen large publishers in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.

The irate publishers include The Washington Post Co., the New York Times Co., Dow Jones & Co., Tribune Interactive, Gannett Co., Knight Ridder Digital, Condenet and American City Business Journals Inc.

Their complaint is the latest in a series of legal scrapes involving Gator, which offers consumers free software and, in exchange, displays ads on the screens of their computers.

In a similar court action earlier this month, one of Gator's advertisers, DietWatch.com, was ordered to stop displaying ads that appeared when Gator users visited rival site WeightWatchers.com. The court ordered DietWatch to pay $25,000 to Weight Watchers.


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