Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Sued for Sidekick Disaster, Fined for Using “Money Power” to “Harass” Defendants

Capitol place



Summary: Sidekick lawsuits arrive in class action form and Microsoft's dirty games in the courtroom finally have it punished severely

Microsoft recently cut its legal budget by 15% and axed many lawyers. Given the sheer number of patent lawsuits against Microsoft (still increasing), this is a recipe for trouble but yet another lawsuit (class action) has come to hit Microsoft. Here are the latest news reports:



'Sidekick' owners sue Microsoft over cell data wipeout

They lost song lyrics, phone numbers and e-mails -- all stored on their Sidekick phones -- and now several Chicago area residents are suing software giant Microsoft Inc. and subsidiary Danger Inc. for a server backup problem that caused the wipeout.

The four plaintiffs named in the suit have yet to recover the data from the October incident, according to the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court.


'Sidekick' owners sue Microsoft over cell data wipeout

T-Mobile Sidekick users file class action suit against Microsoft

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Microsoft by disgruntled Sidekick users who lost all their mobile data a few months ago.

According to the suit, filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court, Terrence Taraszka, Katie Taraszka, Adam Beckelman and Michael Guerrero -- and others like them -- lost e-mail and text messages, contact information, phonebooks, calendars, notes, and favorite internet addresses stored in their Sidekick mobile phones when Microsoft and Danger, Inc.'s data servers failed on Oct. 2, 2009.


Sidekick Users Seek $75K in Class Action Suit

T-Mobile Sidekick users sue Microsoft

Chicago-area residents have filed a class action lawsuit against Microsoft after losing data on their sidekick phones.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court, claims that the plaintiffs- Terrence Taraszka, Katie Taraszka, Adam Beckelman and Michael Guerrero- lost email, text messages, contacts, phonebooks, calendars, nots and other media when their Sidekick phones suffered a technical glitch.


We previously wrote about Sidekick in:



How might Microsoft deal with the lawsuits? So far it has been using false promises (saying it would restore the data) to discourage plaintiffs and keep lawsuits at bay. Failing that, Microsoft has another outrageous strategy which the Indian press has covered:

It’s a capital cost all right! Delhi High Court has asked Microsoft Corporation to shell out Rs.800,000 ($16,000) for choosing to fight four copyright violation cases in the Indian capital even though they originated in other cities.

The order came after the court found that the alleged violations occurred in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Mumbai.

Not only did the court note that Microsoft had offices in these cities, but it also said the company was using “money power” to “harass” the defendants, who would have to travel to Delhi to fight the cases.


This strategy is used in many cases to drain and exhaust those who sue Microsoft, until they run out of money that's required to make more motions. There are many such recent examples, including various lawsuits against Microsoft for misconduct surrounding Windows Vista. A reader of ours has just found a similar report in the India Times and sent us a pointer.

Is it not ironic that Microsoft is fighting "four copyright violation cases" while at the same time Microsoft is arrogantly ignoring copyright law? That's just total hypocrisy. Here is a new article from the China Daily:

Microsoft Corp has been ordered by a Chinese court to stop selling versions of its Windows operating systems that include fonts designed by a local company, citing a violation of licensing agreements.

[...]

Microsoft will have to stop selling the Chinese versions of its Windows 98, 2000, 2003 and Windows XP, according to the court. It is unclear when the ruling will take effect or how many copies are affected.


This is a copyright violation that we wrote about before. It is still in the news. Microsoft also broke copyright/patent law when it knowingly infringed on i4i patents [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] and violated the GNU GPL. It only complied last week after being caught.

At the same time, Microsoft is pushing this article where it sucks up to a monopolist supreme -- a new government role which is intended to maximise copyright zeal. Given that Microsoft's actions are offering their support to ACTA, Microsoft is a major part of this problem. Here is the opening part of the cocky Microsoft placement:

Late Thursday, the Senate voted to confirm Victoria Espinel as the first United States Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC). Microsoft applauds this action and welcomes the opportunity to work with Ms. Espinel as she moves into her new role.


We mentioned this appointment before. Biden is extremely pro-intellectual monopolies.

"Open source is an intellectual-property destroyer [...] I can't imagine something that could be worse than this for the software business and the intellectual-property business. I'm an American; I believe in the American way, I worry if the government encourages open source, and I don't think we've done enough education of policymakers to understand the threat."

--Jim Allchin, President of Platforms & Services Division at Microsoft

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
 
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 18, 2024
Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day