PC Tools & Kaspersky Respond to Zango Lawsuit

By Eric Goldman

PC Tools and Kaspersky have responded to Zango’s TRO requests in Zango v. PC Tools and Zango v. Kaspersky.

PC Tools’ response reads like a typical anti-spyware gripefest about Zango generally, only some of which actually responds to Zango’s TRO motion. (For an analogous circumstance, see Symantec’s gratuitous smear of Hotbar in a similar lawsuit). Then again, Zango had to know that its dirty laundry was going to be aired when it filed this lawsuit. I thought it was particularly interesting that PC Tools didn’t raise the 230(c)(2) defense–not sure why they didn’t do so, because it seems like the quickest path to success.

Kaspersky’s response claims (among other defenses) that Kaspersky USA is an independent entity from the true classifying organization in Moscow. I’m not sure how a court will handle the factual issues raised by this contention; TROs hearings don’t normally engage in extensive fact-finding.

Both motions rely heavily on the New.net v. Lavasoft (see, e.g., the stern anti-SLAPP and dismissal opinion in that case). Also, in case you’re curious, Ben Edelman is PC Tools’ expert and Ray Everett-Church is Kaspersky’s expert.

HT: Venkat. See Venkat’s comments here.