U.S. judge dismisses claims that LinkedIn overcharged advertisers

FILE PHOTO: The logo for LinkedIn Corporation, a social networking networking website for people in professional occupations, is shown in Mountain View, California February 6, 2013. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith

(Reuters) - A U.S. judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing Microsoft Corp's LinkedIn of inflating the number of people who watched video ads so the networking platform could overcharge hundreds of thousands of advertisers.

In a decision on Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen said that while some LinkedIn statements may have been misleading, the plaintiffs failed to show their legal remedies were inadequate before suing under two California laws that offered only equitable relief such as restitution.