Claria Sues L.L.Bean To Get Them To Stop Suing Claria Customers
from the focusing-on-the-wrong-issue dept
Last month, L.L. Bean decided to go one step further from suing Claria for putting pop-up ads over the browsers of Claria users when they visited the L.L. Bean website and sued the advertisers whose ads showed up. At the time, we pointed out that this was ridiculous. Putting those ads there is no different from someone buying a billboard in front of a competitor's office, which is a practice many companies do. The real problem with Claria (and it is a problem) is that the software gets installed without users knowing it. However, if a user does want Claria's Gator product running (and, amazingly enough, some people do want it), that's their decision. There is no law that someone can't use software that pops up advertisements when they visit someone else's website. After realizing that their advertising customers were upset over these lawsuits, Claria has struck back and sued L.L. Bean for filing frivolous lawsuits. Of course, their reasoning isn't so much that these actions are perfectly legal - but that some of the companies sued are no longer Claria customers (which could mean they'll turn around and sue Claria back for causing them to get sued - some lawyers are likely reviewing indemnification clauses as we speak). Either way, this is a big legal mess over the wrong issue. What Claria is doing with their ads is perfectly legal. What they're doing with the installation of Gator, however, is a much bigger question - but none of the lawsuits focus on that.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Hurray for LL BEAN !
Claria/Gator/Satan is a despicable product that intentionally defrauds people.
LLBEAN has every right to sue companies that use Claria/Gator/Satan to hijack LL Bean's website in order to sell their merchandise. Those other companies did not spend millions developing their website like LLBEAN did ( virtual real estate ) so Claria/Gator/Satan could get rich off of selling competitor's advertising on their OWN site.
Good to hear that Claria/Gator/Satan is losing customers for using deceptive ways to market products for others.
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Re: Hurray for LL BEAN !
Saying some people may want different ads displayed is a bullshit excuse, nobody wants different ads, people may want NO ads, but stop with the propaganda that some people CHOOSE to be bombarded with different ads when they purposely go to a specific site. That is just doing Gators work for them
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No Subject Given
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Re: No Subject Given
Be careful about the slippery slope you're heading down. You're telling companies they, not you, have the right to control your browsing experience.
I am NO fan of Claria (as anyone who reads this site knows well), but in this case, they are 100% in the right. If I want to go into a store and be able to compare prices to other stores, that should be my right, not the store's to decide.
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Re: No Subject Given
I think of a store like Fry's, where it's not uncommon to see customers toting copies of the Sunday paper's ads for Best Buy and Circuit City as people comparison shop. Fry's has a (non-stated) policy of matching advertised prices, and i've never seen anyone escorted out for comparison shopping. Imagine if Pricewatch.com came out with a Gator-ish app....ummm, i need to go file an IPO.....
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Re: No Subject Given
Ok, so how many of you have the lovely and OH SO USEFUL Claria/Gator/Satan installed on YOUR PC's so you can price compare ?
I thought so.
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Re: No Subject Given
No
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Re: No Subject Given
I didnt think so. Gator is selling theft of advertising to sleazy advertisers. Nothing nobel or free speech about it. It is not comparison shopping it is blocking the current shop's ads for gators ads (as in REPLACEMENT, not comparison).
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Re: No Subject Given
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Re: No Subject Given
We are not talking about YOUR rights to replace ads or YOUR rights to remove ads, we are talking about GATORS right to replace LL Bean ads with their own. GATOR doesnt own your computer, so what right do they have to put their view on your computer when you go to LL bean sites? None.
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Re: No Subject Given
So, yes, if I PUT Gator on my computer, they have EVERY RIGHT to cover up LL Bean ads, because I told them to.
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Re: No Subject Given
We have had the ability to avoid ads, which would be a nice right, but I dont know that it is a right. I am pretty sure we do not have the right to modify content or have someone not authorized by the copyright holder to modify content for us.
You cant, for example replace tv or radio commercials to something else, paste someone elses ads on top of ads in a magazine for sale without breaking copyright rules, seems logical that the same rules apply to websites.
You can probably replace ads in a magazine you bought to ads of your own or someone else's choosing, but you cant buy or sell that modified copy, you probably cant even share that modified copy with someone else for free without breaking copyright.
The fact that gator is modifying copyrighted material without authorization from the copyright holder AND doing it for profit makes it pretty clear (to me anyways) that this is infringement and not a right that the end user can authorize.
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Re: No Subject Given
I can't believe you actually want to forbid yourself from being able to modify what you view. If you don't like it, don't do it, but don't prevent me from doing it.
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Re: No Subject Given
And it is for resale/profit anyways, by Gator. You are not replacing the ads yourself, Gator is giving you a modified version of the LL Bean content without authorization. And Gator is getting paid by advertisers to do this. That is not legal with magazines, nor video/dvds, why should it be legal to do it with websites?
Somehow because it is your computer that is viewing what is on LL Bean's server, you think you own the right to what is on LL Bean's server? It is their server and their content, not yours, not gators.
I could see your confusion if it were for skipping content, like avoiding ads all together. That is a different story, because you are not changing content you are skipping some of it. And yes, I think we do have that right today. And I would think that would be something we should also be able to do on websites.
But we arent even talking about that grey area. We are talking about changing someone elses work for profit without authorization from the owner. Pretty clearly falls under copyright infringement.
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Re: No Subject Given
Adding content is changing content. Can you buy a dvd that has an unauthorized advertiser's content added to the front or back or middle? NO. Can you buy a magazine that someone has added their own ads to? NO. Even if users asked for these kinds of dvds or magazines because they got something else for free, you cant get them because it is copyright infringement.
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Re: No Subject Given
Please tell us you use Gator, PLEASE ?
Didn't think so
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renting space
since i do not want them and i say not to they program
it screwed up my ie
but what really eats me is that they spyware uses my computer for ads and they feel that should be free but i paided for my computer and i should be allowed to collect rent for that
lets all sue and make the internet a happy place agian
peter
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