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Call it the battle of the banner ads--and, for now at least, NetZero is winning.

A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order against Juno Online Services, in response to the lawsuit filed by rival NetZero. The lawsuit claims that Juno's advertising and navigation window violates a NetZero patent.

The restraining order, which is effective from January 12 to March 15, forbids Juno from displaying the third-party ads.

But according to Juno, the order that was granted is not as broad as that sought by NetZero. Juno proposed the less restrictive order that limits the display of third-party advertising, which accounts for less than 4 percent of Juno's revenues, Juno says in a news release Monday. Juno still can advertise its own service on the ad banner.

About two-thirds of Juno's revenue comes from subscriptions to its billable premium services with the remainder from advertising and electronic commerce, the release says. Juno contends that its banner ad does not infringe "on any valid patent" from NetZero.

NetZero predictably hailed the temporary restraining order as a victory for its side. The ISP, based in Westlake Village, California, contends in the lawsuit filed December 26 that Juno's floating advertising window, dubbed the Juno Guide, infringes on U.S. patent number 6,157,946. The patent relates to an ISP's display of ads or messages via a window separate from the Web browser.

Juno sued NetZero and Qualcomm last June 1, alleging the two infringed a patent on technology for displaying advertising and other content when a user is not connected to the Net.

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