Now here’s a lesson. If you offer an online service, don’t sign people up to it in sneaky fashion or you could find yourself on the losing end of a massive lawsuit. The story goes that in 2003 James Odom bought a PC from Best Buy that included a six-month free trial to Microsoft’s online service MSN. He goes home happy only to discover that Best Buy allegedly used his credit card from the purchase of the PC to actually sign him up for a MSN account (allegedly without his knowledge or consent). When the six-month free trail ended, Microsoft began charging Odom’s credit card for the account, the lawsuit says. So he became one of two lead plaintiffs in a class-action suit being organized by attorney Daniel Girard. Without getting into the nitty gritty of the case, the upshot is that in May, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave the thumbs up to allow a civil suit against Microsoft and Best Buy to proceed. The companies appealed to the Supreme Court and today the Supreme Court rejected the appeal to dismiss the suit. A story in AP states:
Originally filed by one consumer in northern California, the lawsuit claims the companies’ joint venture violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, which is usually used in organized crime cases. Successful RICO claims provide for triple damage awards in civil cases. In a friend-of-the-court filing on behalf of the companies, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the filing of civil cases invoking RICO is out of control and urged the Supreme Court to hear the case as a way to determine whether the use RICO should be reined in. Under the joint venture, Microsoft invested $200 million in Best Buy in April 2000, and agreed to promote the company’s online store through its Internet access service, MSN. In turn, Best Buy agreed to promote MSN in its stores.The story ends, interestingly enough, noting that Microsoft shares haven’t been hurt by the news (at least today). More Microsoft Subnet blog posts
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