Microsoft, Best Buy Face Racketeering Suit

15 judges of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals have unanimously reversed dismissal of a RICO class action suit against Microsoft and Best Buy, which claims the companies engaged in fraud in promoting Microsoft's MSN online service. (RICO is a statute originally intended to help prosecutors go after organized crime.) Quoting: "The case started after James Odom bought a PC-based laptop at a Contra Costa County Best Buy store. Data about the purchase was sent to Microsoft as part of a joint marketing agreement between the companies. Microsoft then signed Mr. Odom up for its MSN Internet service and, after a free trial period, began billing him for it." Howard Bashman's How Appealing blog has more details on the reversal, including a paraphrase from one of the appellate judges that "all blame rests with the U.S. Supreme Court for allowing the 'outlandish' result that a claim such as this can be pursued under RICO."

Comments

Re:The time to worry is when ...

[bikerider7]

... the 9th rules in your favor. More of its rulings are reversed than upheld.

Thanks for the right-wing talking point. In fact, virtually all of their decisions are upheld. While the total number of cases overturned is greater than the other courts, that is due to their much bigger caseload (the 9th covers the entire West Coast).

RICO was created to combat Organized Crime

[Vellmont]

It really has little to do with violent crime. Violence is just a technique used by organized crime.

RICO actually stands for:

Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act

according to Wikipedia Racketeering is:

The term racket comes from the Italian word ricatto (blackmail) and is also used as a pejorative term for legitimate businesses. Typically, this usage is based on the example of the "protection racket" and indicates that the speaker believes that the business is making money by selling a solution to a problem that it created (or that it intentionally allows to continue to exist), specifically so that continuous purchases of the solution are always needed.

(no, I'm not making that up)

Sound like any large software company we might all be familiar with?

I never thought of Bill Gates as just a non-violent, really smart version of Tony Soprano.. but damned if it doesn't fit.