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Video Professor Sues 100 Anonymous Critics

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the sco-business-model dept.

Techdirt is reporting that the Video Professor Company is suing 100 anonymous critics of their company. The Video Professor is known for their television ads hawking DVDs that teach you various skills like how to use your computer. Most of the complaints center around how their "free" product offering automagically signs you up for a subscription. Instead of addressing the concerns the Video Professor has decided to take the litigious route.

6 of 261 comments (clear)

  1. Calling all lawyers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is about the stupidest thing that Video Professor could do. They just got some PR that they didn't need.

    Anybody smell a class action lawsuit?

    1. Re:Calling all lawyers by the_womble · · Score: 5, Interesting

      They just got some PR that they didn't need.
      Just like Alisher Usmanov just found out, in Britain, when hundreds of bloggers posted the story he was trying to suppress.

      I would have thought that the issues raised by this are a lot more important (especially given that he has shut down blogs belonging to MP's, a candidate for Mayor of London etc.), but Slashdot is too US centric to care about what happens across the Atlantic (even though you can be sued for libel in the UK, if just one person in Britain views your website based anywhere in the world - so slashdot better not libel me!).

  2. Try my product by JoelKatz · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That guy uses the word "product" more times in a minute than most people do all month. God, I hate that guy! Now I have one more reason.

  3. Re:Of course by zippthorne · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That's ridiculous. Suppose some large IP-holding organization sues a sweet old lady for copyright infringement, and manages to, through sheer force of millions of dollars in lawyer-time, convince a court that she's guilty of a couple thousand dollars in infringement?

    Heck, let's assume she was actually guilty and the fine was appropriate.

    Is it really fair to saddle her with such a disproportionate level of compensation that she'll never be able to repay?

    What about the reverse, wherein the little old lady is incapable of protecting her IP from being stolen by a larger organization because of millions of dollars of stalling and diversionary tactics?

    No, what we need is a "stupid pays" system. Where an omniscient overlord assigns legal costs to the party that acted stupid or maliciously.

    --
    Can you be Even More Awesome?!
  4. Video Professor Software May Contain Malware by Junior+Samples · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My wife installed some Video Professor software on my computer. The software would not uninstall normally with "Add/Remove Programs". I tried to remove the piece of crap manually, but some of the files wouldn't delete. The OS hasn't been acting the same ever since. I will probably end up reinstalling the OS to get the machine working properly again.

    So be warned, Video professor software may contain malware or even a root kit. Symantec AV and Ad-Aware didn't find anything, nevertheless, a problem still remains.

  5. Re:Of course by Toonol · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My favorite version of 'loser pays' is that the loser is liable for legal fees, up to the lesser of the amounts either party paid.

    So, if a big company sues an individual, and wins, the loser is only liable for as much as they themselves spent on the case. I think it would encourage parties in a lawsuit to spend amounts more equitably, unless one side is absolutely convinced they will be successful.