Symantec Sued Over Automatic Renewals

Posted 02/08/2010 at 9:15am | by Paul Lilly

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Seven months ago, the New York Attorney General's office slapped both Symantec and McAfee with $375,000 in fines to settle charges that they automatically charged customers software subscription renewal fees without their consent. Symantec may have been slow to learn its lesson, because now a New York man is suing the security software maker for the same reason.

In the lawsuit, Kenneth Elan says he purchased a copy of Norton Antivirus in 2007. According to Elan, Symantec notified him in early 2009 that his software license had been automatically renewed and his credit card charged $76.03. Now Elan is taking Symantec to court, claiming the company did not abide by the above-mentioned settlement, in which Symantec and McAfee agreed to "provide electronics notification to consumers before and after renewal of the subscription."

"Prior to the automatic renewal, defendant failed to offer plaintiff an opportunity to decline to renew the license for another year," the lawsuit alleges. "If plaintiff had notice of an opportunity to decline the automatic renewal, plaintiff would not have renewed the license."

Elan is seeking both a refund and has asked the court to grant the lawsuit class-action status.

Image Credit: Flickr Joe Gratz