14 DAY TRIAL // Avira, a German antivirus maker, has filed a lawsuit against Freemium.com, a website that distributed computer applications under a shady "bundling" policy that usually means users often get more than what they wanted or expected.
The two companies have a history together after Freemium.com, owned by the famous ProSiebenSat.1 media company (owner of ProSieben TV channel), had previously sued Avira after the antivirus company had marked its applications as adware.
In that trial, the court ruled in favor of the antivirus company, allowing it to continue to mark Freemium.com applications as adware or as unwanted downloads (applications).
Software bundling, an old practice, taken to extremes by Freemium.com
The practice of bundling software applications together is an old trick that started many years back, with shady applications being distributed together with more legitimate software, with or without the (legitimate) software maker's agreement.
While initially no more than one shady application was bundled with a legitimate app, Freemium.com took this practice to extremes.
"It’s like putting ten layers of wrapping paper on a single present– there’s room for a lot of unpleasant crapware to be hidden," says Mr. Witteveen, CEO of Avira GmbH. "We’ve documented where a user wanting to download a single app could end up with four additional programs, two browser extensions, and a desktop link to a gaming site."
The new lawsuit goes directly at Freemium.com's jugular
Because both companies are based in Germany, a country with very tight and tough consumer protection laws, Avira is basically trying to pit local authorities against Freemium.com and force it to comply with local laws or shut down.
Currently, as Avira describes the situation in its press release, Freemium.com is using a EULA (End User License Agreement) written in English, based on Egyptian laws, for German customers.
This license allows it to do everything it wants, from bundling multiple apps together, to collecting and then sharing/selling user details.
This is the first documented case where an antivirus company has sued another company that delivered adware or malware.