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Settlement Reached in McAfee Class Action Suit

Posted by timothy on from the doesn't-run-well-on-linux dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Network Associates has reached a settlement in a class action suit alleging it broke its own license agreements by not providing users of VirusScan 3 & 4 with free lifetime upgrades. Although not admitting guilt, the settlement entitles all U.S. (sorry to the rest of the globe) owners of the older versions free upgrades to VirusScan v8 (or, optionally, QuickClean/AntiSpyware). If eligible, you have until July 16th to fill out this form. The settlement page also contains links to the Class Notice and Settlement Agreement (in PDF format)."

11 of 24 comments (clear)

  1. Free Software? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The page to put in your information http://software.mcafee.com/lcas/ doesn't seem to require any ID# or something for the software. Does this mean free AV software for everyone?

    1. Re:Free Software? by ln+-sf+head+ass · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yup, for the first year. Hard to tell how much of a "punishment" this is for McAfee.

  2. Congradulations by MBCook · · Score: 3, Informative
    Congradulations users. They promised you life-time updates and they renegged, so you sued.

    And what did you "win"? A free upgrade to a product with only one year of free updates.

    How did anyone "win" anything in this one? A refund of the origional purchase price AND a free upgrade would have been much more fair.

    If N.A. was nice, they'd give the customers a free upgrade and the free upgrades that they promissed.

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    1. Re:Congradulations by Green+Light · · Score: 4, Interesting
      From the fill-out form:
      A settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit over McAfee VirusScan versions 3 and 4. If you are a U.S. resident and you bought a retail version of McAfee VirusScan version 3 or version 4, then you are a member of the class. As a member of the class, you may receive a free download version of your choice of one of the three McAfee perpetual products: (1) VirusScan version 8, (2) AntiSpyware version 1.0, or (3) QuickClean version 4.01 (collectively "Software").

      They call the free downloads "perpetual" products - surely this implies that you will get updates?
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    2. Re:Congradulations by nacturation · · Score: 2, Informative

      Congradulations users. They promised you life-time updates and they renegged, so you sued.

      How do you define lifetime? Usually, the lifetime refers to the product itself. Versions 3 and 4 have essentially been end-of-lifed. This sounds like McAfee probably didn't specify fully enough what "lifetime" means in their EULA. As a result, the lawyers get a quarter million dollars in legal fees. (Pet peeve: the word is congratulate. Think "gratuity", not "graduity". Oh, and while I'm being a spelling Nazi here, "reneged" has one "g".)

      And what did you "win"? A free upgrade to a product with only one year of free updates.

      Check out the PDF for the settlement terms. Emphasis mine:

      The parties have come to a settlement. Network Associates agrees to give each Class member a coupon for a free download of the perpetual version of one of the following: (i) McAfee VirusScan version 8, (ii) AntiSpyware version 1.0 or (iii) QuickClean version 4.01 (or the most recent versions at the time of download) software from mcafee.com.

      Perpetual, ie: never ending.

      If N.A. was nice, they'd give the customers a free upgrade and the free upgrades that they promissed.

      They did, if you'd RTFA.

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  3. Reminder on who really wins in class actions... by Gogo+Dodo · · Score: 4, Insightful
    From page 14 of the Settlement Agreement:

    CLASS COUNSEL will receive $227,000.00 in attorneys' fees, costs, and expenses

  4. Sure.... by methangel · · Score: 3, Funny

    ....I bought it. Really. I did. O_o

  5. :Free Software? And worth less than that. by frovingslosh · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Hard to tell how much of a "punishment" this is for McAfee.

    Or how much punishment it is for the user. I have a qualifying product right here at my side (version 4), but there is no way I'll ever install another McAfee product on my systems again. Here's yet another case of the class action lawyers getting rich, while the members of the class get less than nothing.

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  6. idiotic lip service, nothing more by muel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This has to be among the most unnecessary "stipulations" of a settlement I've ever heard. Why, you might ask? Because only the people who purchased McAfee VirusScan and HAVEN'T upgraded it on a regular basis will be able to take advantage of this deal. Any home/business user who consciously ensures the security of his system(s) could care less about this "free" offer, since he's already upgraded from versions 3 & 4 (come onnnnn! we're at 8 already! talk about overdue!), while the others who purchased those older versions and haven't upgraded.. well, seriously, do you really think they're visiting Slashdot or checking the McAfee press releases on a frequent basis? Of course not. Hell, even if they did check the McAfee website lately, they'd find no easy-to-find trace of this upgrade.

    This extra "offer" is really useless lip service that gives fake dignity to the company. "Whoops, we messed up, but we're taking care of it, even though it won't even cost us 100 copies of the software in question, but hey, it looks noble and respectful to the people who ARE paying attention, right?" Bullocks.

  7. Lifetime by NewStarRising · · Score: 4, Insightful

    By "lifetime", they meant "lifetime of the product", not "lifetime of the purchaser". The product has been reached the end of its lifetime, hence the upgrades stop. You can tell the product has reached the end of its lifetime, as defined by stopping the upgrades for it!

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  8. Re: avg antivirus by bradkittenbrink · · Score: 2, Informative

    ask and ye shall receive:

    AVG antivirus