Another month goes by, another lawsuit that involves Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT). But, this one's not about monopolistic practices and agreements with computer manufacturers. The world's largest software maker is accused of colluding with consumer electronics retailer Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) to install Microsoft's MSN Internet service and then bill customers for the service (which may have gone unused or unnoticed). Where does Best Buy come in? The computers that had the MSN software activated (with a monthly charge not brought to the customer's attention) were sold from the retailer, which was the one to secretly activate those yearly or monthly subscriptions.
This is not a new lawsuit -- it's an old one that was reinstated by the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals. The lawsuit involves Best Buy employees activating MSN Internet service subscriptions automatically, without any prior notice to the customer that those subscriptions needed to be explicitly canceled at a later date.
Since the allegations have been reinstated, this time the charges will fall under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The customers of both companies who brought the suit allege that the software giant "invested $200 million in Best Buy and agreed to promote Best Buy's online store through its MSN service." This ought to be interesting, since the suit is about four years old now but is being brought up from the ashes again.
Best Buy, Microsoft lawsuit re-emerges with racketeering charges
Posted May 8th 2007 2:36PM by Brian White
Filed under: Bad news, Rumors, Law, Microsoft (MSFT), Best Buy (BBY)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-09-2007 @ 3:44PM
Brian said...
I have worked for Best Buy for almost 7 years. If this article is true, how come it is part of our jobs to ask a customer if they want to sign-up for a broadband subscription when they are buying a desktop or labtop? If this article is true, it must be a corporate issue. I don't see that happening though because of the business ethics that we are taught everyday at work. Why would they make us read and take tests about keeping customers information confidential? Maybe you should go in to a Best Buy store and see how it works for yourself before you keep writing articles. everytime i see an article on here dealing with Best Buy, you have written it. do you have a gripe against Best Buy or do you work for them? And if you do work for them, maybe you shouldn't if all you have to do is complain about them.