Symantec seeks $55 million in piracy lawsuits

Symantec announced Wednesday it has filed lawsuits against eight software distributors, alleging they pirated the company's software. The Cupertino, Calif., security and storage management software maker is seeking a total of $55 million in damages. The lawsuits were filed over the past few months in three U.S. district courts in California.

Symantec alleges counterfeit versions of its Norton SystemWorks, Norton AntiVirus, Norton Internet Security, pcAnywhere and Symantec AntiVirus Small Business Edition were sold. Most of the sales were conducted online, with the purchasers receiving the CDs in single, blank white sleeves, with no documentation information, directions, labeled packaging or activation code information, according to Symantec. The companies being sued are: Acortech, mPlus, Logical Plus, SoftwareOutlets.com, Rowcal Distribution, Global Impact, Directron.com and eDirect Software.

[RJBlackKS]

hmm

maybe with that 55mil they can improve their customer service? there's a thought. They're the only company I know that has a built in call back option when you're on hold because their queue's are so long.

[Renegade Knight]

I may have bought one of those pirated versions

CD looked great. Product Key was printed. It made me go Hmmm...When it stopped working due to too many installs from a thousand people using that one key Symantec fell on it's face when I called them. Instead of telling me the truth and saying "that product key looks like it was pirated" they said "Send in the CD, the Key, your receipt" so we can investigate your problem further. They should have told me the truth. I only figured out the piracy potential later. Instead I kept my software and dropped them as a company I buy from. 15 years of purchased software and upgrades of legitimate software ended due to a single potential instance of a pirated version bought in good faith and how Symantec chose to deal with it.

[wbenton]

What do you expect?

They've slept with Microsoft too long to know otherwise! (* GRIN *)

FWIW

[Renegade Knight]

I agree...

If Symantec had offered a free version, or even a temporary version (or key) while they investigated that would have been something. They didn't. My computer was unprotected and they wanted my disks and didn't offer anything to help solve my problem. It's worth noting that Symantec's software also seemingly randomly would "forget" about it's own key and demand to be registered. Sometiems that worked, sometimes it wouldn't and I'd have to call in for support just to get what should have been working, working.

Symantec's own efforts and policies caused me to shun them as a company.

[Renegade Knight]

One Final Thing

When I said their software would 'forget' it's key and want to be re-registered. One version I had did that so many times that Symantec's server refused saying "you have too many installs" What I really had was a glitchy piece of software and one intall. But once again an unprotected computer.

I tend to like companies that show they like having customers.