AKQA Suit Against infoUSA To Go Ahead

Interactive agency AKQA’s lawsuit against database firm infoUSA will continue, after a federal judge in Nebraska denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss.

The dispute stems from an advertising contract struck in 2000 between AKQA, formerly known as Citron Haligman Bedecarre, and a now-defunct infoUSA subsidiary known as Video Yellow Pages USA.com (VYP). AKQA claims VYP failed to pay the full agreed-upon amount after the agency created a multimillion-dollar multimedia ad campaign and performed related services. Since then, infoUSA has dissolved the division.

Though VYP was found liable in a separate suit and was ordered to pay $817,388 in damages, infoUSA argues it shouldn’t have to pay the division’s expenses and is appealing the decision. Neither the company nor its attorneys responded to a request for comment.

“We’re very pleased that the court has denied infoUSA’s attempt to quash our claim,” said Tom Bedecarre, AKQA’s CEO, in a statement. “We are now looking forward to conducting extensive discovery, which this ruling allows us to begin, in order to establish our claim.”

AKQA must prove infoUSA is the alter ego of VYP and therefore should be responsible for expenses incurred by the division. AKQA contends infoUSA approved the hiring of the agency and approved a press release announcing it.