By Juan Carlos Rodriguez

Facebook Inc. is fighting a proposed class action alleging it improperly made money off game and application credits unknowingly purchased by minors, and filed a motion Tuesday to remove the case to California federal court.

The lawsuit, originally filed in March in California state court, should be removed because the proposed class consists of at least 100 people and the amount of money in question exceeds $5 million, Facebook said.

Plaintiff Glynnis Bohannon alleges Facebook violates California's contract laws, Consumers Legal Remedies Act and Business and Professions Code when minors unknowingly spend real money to purchase Facebook Credits, a system of currency used to buy items in games and applications available through Facebook.

"For example, a user can purchase a ‘virtual flower' to ‘send' to another friend, causing a picture to appear on the friend's page. A user can also use Facebook Credits, which the user has purchased from Facebook in exchange for real-world currency, to acquire points, coins or virtual currency," the complaint said.

Bohannon said that in October, her minor child asked for permission to spend $20 on his Facebook account through her credit card. The boy gave his mother $20 in cash in exchange, and then purchased Facebook Credits for use in Ninja Saga game.

"Subsequently, without any notice that his mother's credit card information had been stored by Facebook and the Facebook Credits system, or that his mother's credit card information was being used again after the initial $20 purchase, [the boy] made in-game purchases in which he thought he was expending virtual, in-game currency. In fact, Bohannon's credit card was charged repeatedly, and the charges totaled several hundred dollars," the complaint said.

Upon learning of these charges, Bohannon attempted to contact Facebook to dispute the charges and left a phone message about her problem, but she never received a reply or a refund, the complaint said.

The proposed class includes all parents and legal guardians in the U.S. whose minor children made unauthorized purchases of Facebook Credits from the minor child's Facebook account.

Bohannon's lawsuit is the latest in a string of actions taking issue with the Facebook Credits system.

In February, two California-based law firms launched a website to garner interest for a potential antitrust class action against the social networking site.

Newman Duwors LLP and Strange & Carpenter started a site called stopfacebookcredits.com that is meant to attract companies that have been put out of business or have incurred higher costs since Facebook instituted its credits system to switch all online games to a single, Facebook-run, virtual currency system.

In June, California-based advocacy group Consumer Watchdog filed a complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission asking it to investigate and enjoin alleged anti-competitive business practices by Facebook in the market for virtual goods purchased in social games.

The nonprofit contends that under revised contractual arrangements, software developers who create games for the Facebook platform must agree to exclusively use Facebook's own virtual currency, Facebook Credits, and accede to other terms that discourage competition.

And in April 2011 Priceline.com founder Jay S. Walker sued Facebook, among others, claiming products including Facebook Credits infringe two Walker patents for e-commerce technology.

Bohannon is represented by John R. Parker Jr. of Kershaw Cutter & Ratinoff LLP.

Facebook is represented by Whitty Somvichian, Michael Rhodes and Kristine Anne VanHamersveld of Cooley LLP.

The case is Bohannon v. Facebook Inc., number 5:12-cv-01894, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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