Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP Files Year 2000 Action Against Quarterdeck Corporation.NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--August 4, 1998--Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP LLP - Lower Layer Protocol filed a lawsuit on July 30, 1998 against Quarterdeck (Quarterdeck Corporation, Marina del Rey, CA) A pioneering software company, founded in 1983, that offered a variety of utilities, diagnostics, connectivity and Internet products for the PC and Macintosh. Corporation, charging the maker of the popular Procomm Plus An earlier communications program for Windows from Quarterdeck that supported a wide number of protocols and terminals. Procomm was originally developed for DOS by Datastorm Technologies and was also available as a shareware program, which was very popular. software with selling version 4.0 for Windows 95 between November 1996 and July 1997, without disclosing that the software was unable to process dates after December 31, 1999 and now charging for a Year 2000 compliant a. 1. (Computers) having dates fully and properly represented, and not susceptible to failure due to the year 2000 bug. upgrade. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the complaint, Quarterdeck aggressively marketed this software program to the public as a combined telecommunications application, web-browser and fax management package, despite knowing, or being in the position where is should have known , that this program is not Year 2000 compliant. "All told, thousands of unsuspecting consumers paid millions of dollars for this software expecting to be able to use it into the next century" said Jeffrey Klafter, a partner with Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP, referring to Procomm Plus 4.0. "This version will be obsolete well before what otherwise would be the end of its useful life." Furthermore, the complaint alleges that, unlike many other software companies, Quarterdeck has not offered free software to correct the defect. As stated in the complaint, "in or around June 1998, Quarterdeck representatives placed telephone calls to owners of Procomm Plus 4.0 for Windows 95 in order to inform them that this program was not Year 2000 compliant and to solicit these customers to purchase an upgrade to Procomm Plus 32, version 4.5, which Quarterdeck represented as Year 2000 compliant." Plaintiff alleges that Procomm Plus 32, version 4.5 was not compliant, a fact Quarterdeck publicly acknowledged in or around July 1998. Quarterdeck is now offering Procomm Plus version 4.70, which it maintains is Year 2000 compliant, at an upgrade cost of $29.95 to owners of version 4.0. "It appears to us," said Klafter, " that Quarterdeck is attempting to profit on its failure to supply Year 2000 compliant versions of Procomm Plus 4.0 for Windows 95 in the first place. We intend to use the full scope of consumer protection laws consumer protection laws n. almost all states and the federal government have enacted laws and set up agencies to protect the consumer (the retail purchasers of goods and services) from inferior, adulterated, hazardous and deceptively advertised products, and to prevent this from occurring." The lawsuit is filed as a class action on behalf of all purchasers of Procomm Plus 4.0 for Windows 95 between November 1996 through July 1997 and seeks damages, as well as injunctive relief injunctive relief n. a court-ordered act or prohibition against an act or condition which has been requested, and sometimes granted, in a petition to the court for an injunction. , to compel Quarterdeck to rectify the problem without charge. The suit was filed in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of State Supreme Court. Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP prosecutes complex class actions, nationwide, on behalf of individuals and investors in the securities fraud and consumer fraud areas, as well as major employment discrimination cases. The firm established a Year 2000 Practice Group under the direction of Jeffrey A. Klafter and Seth R. Lesser, and is currently litigating several other Year 2000 cases. For more information about the Quarterdeck lawsuit or other Year 2000 litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. issues, please call Jeffrey Klafter or Seth Lesser, partners at Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP at 212/554-1400 or toll-free at 800/380-8496 or visit our web site at www.blbglaw.com.
CONTACT: Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP
Ava C. Thorin 212/554-1429
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion