A U.S. federal judge has ruled that the case brought against Capital One Shopping by creators can move forward in court.
Capital One is being sued for allegedly stealing affiliate commissions from creators through its browser extension, Capital One Shopping.
The lawsuit claims that Capital One Shopping hijacked affiliate tracking at checkout, making it appear as though sales originated via the browser extension and, thus, stealing last-click commission.
Creators say this allowed Capital One to collect “millions” in commissions that should have gone to them.
Judge Anthony Trenga said the creators had plausibly shown that Capital One knew, or should have known, what was happening, according to Reuters.
Claims of unjust enrichment, interference with business relationships, and violations of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act will proceed. Four state law claims and a conversion claim were dismissed.
In a statement, Capital One said: “Capital One Shopping does not replace affiliate marketer cookies or unlawfully take credit for commissions. We disagree with the allegations in the complaint and look forward to defending ourselves in court.”
The bank also argued that it is the merchants, not Capital One, that control how commissions are allocated.
The case is part of a broader legal push around browser extensions and affiliate tracking. Microsoft and PayPal are facing similar lawsuits over their own tools, Microsoft Shopping and PayPal Honey.
Seemingly in response to the controversy, Microsoft quietly axed its coupon-hunting browser extension last week.
Google has introduced new rules for browser extensions, which will take effect tomorrow, June 10th. The new policy states that browser extensions must only deploy affiliate links when there is a “direct and transparent benefit to users."
