Winternals freezes Geek Squad
US electronic giant Best Buy has been sued by Winternals, the maker of ERD Commander, for using thousands of unlicensed copies of its software in its 'Geek Squad' business.
Winternals' claims that Best Buy asked them about licensing its software for use in Best Buy's Geek Squad sideline which fixes customers computers onsite. A price of several million dollars for more than 12,000 licences was being talked about.
Best Buy then asked for provide evaluation copies of the software and some training to employees in its use, which Winternals did in January. However while the training sessions were being carried out, it was clear that Best Buy employees were already using unlicensed versions of the software.
The employees told the trainers that they were glad to see their employer finally coming into compliance by seeking a license, Winternals claims in its court documents.
Suddenly in February, Best Buy changed its mind and said it was not interested in pursuing a commercial licence at that time.
Believing that Best Buy had cracked its software and was using it free of charge, Winternals phoned up various Geek Squad branches to ask for one of its computers to be fixed. Each time the geek showed up he was armed with a hacked copy of ERD Commander, the company claims. More
at Ars Technica.
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