wazzledoozle
Golden Member
Start arranging an AT assassination crew?
-
We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.
Get backup software for free - Western Digital Settles Drive Capacity Class-Action Lawsuit
Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
CrazyGamer
Senior member
They did contact buyers who registered their warranties for the time period covered by the lawsuit. I received an email in fact for each drive that I had registered online over the past few years.
unclebabar
Senior member
Ultimately somebody pays the price for these frivilous lawsuits and it ain't the lawyers.
thefamoustraders
Banned
Just received this email containing a link to a 1 time D/L of the software.
Link omitted for obvious reasons. 😛
On July 17, 2006, the Settlement of the class action lawsuit entitled Orin Safier v. Western Digital Corporation et al., Case No. 05-03353 BZ (N.D. Cal) became effective. Under the terms of the Settlement, Class Members who successfully completed the Claim Form during the Claims Period are entitled to receive EMC Dantz Retrospect Express Software (the "Software").
Below is a link to a website where you can download the Software. You will be able to perform a single download of the Software at this link prior to October 18, 2006, after which time the Software download will no longer be available per the terms of the Settlement. Only one Software download is available per Class Member.
Link omitted for obvious reasons. 😛
On July 17, 2006, the Settlement of the class action lawsuit entitled Orin Safier v. Western Digital Corporation et al., Case No. 05-03353 BZ (N.D. Cal) became effective. Under the terms of the Settlement, Class Members who successfully completed the Claim Form during the Claims Period are entitled to receive EMC Dantz Retrospect Express Software (the "Software").
Below is a link to a website where you can download the Software. You will be able to perform a single download of the Software at this link prior to October 18, 2006, after which time the Software download will no longer be available per the terms of the Settlement. Only one Software download is available per Class Member.
I received the e-mail with the link but it seems there is a problem with their server. After going through the login and software selection process, and clinking the link to the mirror site, this meesage pops up after about 3 mintues of wheel spinning:
Information Alert
Status : 504 Gateway Time-Out
Description : Lost connection to origin server.
Information Alert
Status : 504 Gateway Time-Out
Description : Lost connection to origin server.
The consumer gets screwed twice. Once by the original problem that brought the lawsuit and then again when the drive prices go up because the manufacturer had to shell out hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars to pay the lawyers and satisfy the lawsuit. Once again the lawyers get rich while the consumer suffers. Class action lawsuits rarely benefit consumers.
And to top it all off the site is down. I can't even get to the site to participate in this crappy offer.
CrazyGamer
Senior member
Finally got it downloaded & installed. It updated to the latest version np. Was tough getting the download from WD to complete, but the update from EMC after it installed was quick and easy.
Frivilous?? I'm sorry but do you (like most who casually toss about that term) even know what that term means as applied to a suit? If this action was "without merit", it would never have gotten past a summary judgment motion. True this was a consumer protection based action as was the one several years ago relating to CRT size vs advertised monitor screen size. Had it not been for that suit, marketers would still be not listing the true viewable screen size. But accordingly, that would be a "frivilous" suit, as some politicians like to toss the term about to the masses.
Hope you got your emailed settlement software link.
btw... I have never found the need to register products as I keep copies of receipts, but Western Digital has paid me rebates for buying their HD's at least 4 times during this qualifing period and I never got any notice of this settlement (and notice how the link is hidden out of the way at the very bottom of their main page)!
unclebabar
Senior member
As I said above,
The National Institute of Standards (NIST) defines gigabyte as
one gigabyte 1 GB = 10^9 B = 1 000 000 000 B
This has been a standard since at least 1990.
If anyone should have been sued it should have been Microsoft for not applying the standard. If Microsoft made distance measuring devices (and you can consider the disk space indicator a measuring device), and it decided to make rulers measuring a foot as 12.6 inches just because in the olden times King Jackamogga's foot was 12.6" instead of 12", do you think some whiner who used Microsoft's ruler to measure whatever and found it to be too short (by Microsoft's reckoning) would sue the maker of whatever, despite it being the correct size according to the law of the land? Now you tell me how the lawsuit was not without merit.
For the record, I got my link, haven't tried downloading it yet, and have also gotten many rebates from WD and would not have known about this 'bargain' without ATHD.
because this suit wasn't necessarily initiated for knowing buyers such as yourself, myself, and other computer literates; but for those who don't know the difference between a bit and a byte (and by my standands, that would be the majority of computer users today). This majority sees GB, mHz, etc., and that is what they expect. They saw ads for 17 inch crt's and expected them to be 17 inches of viewable area, not 15.94 or 16.22. If it weren't for similar class-actions suits, manufacturer's would still be deceptive in their specs in order to give them a marketing edge over their competitors.
I'm glad both you and I read posts here or we probably only would have heard about this settlement from someone after it was too late. And I would have better liked a $10 or $25 check in settlement of a claim I never would have made myself 😉
...russ
unclebabar
Senior member
I fail to see what is deceptive about using the government's definition of gigabyte to advertise a product.
Frivolous lawsuits hurt us all. They clutter the lawbooks with useless, confusing laws, tie up the courts and cost tons of money to hear, and suck money from companies that otherwise might go into developing better products. IMHO the cumulative damage that frivolous lawsuits have done to this country far exceeds that done by terrorists.
friv·o·lous
Pronunciation: 'fri-v&-l&s
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin frivolus
1 a : of little weight or importance b : having no sound basis (as in fact or law)
That's the definition I'm using. Obviously the lawyers aren't going to bite the hand that feeds them, so they'll probably define it much more narrowly. Also, your faith in the justice system is commendable, but the mere fact of it getting past a summary judgment motion doesn't mean that the world is better off now that precedence has been set for "popular understanding" being more authoritative than a well-recognized institutional standard.
Next they'll be telling teachers that they can't teach evolution, since popular understanding is different...oh wait...
I'll try once more...
regardless of whether one uses the term kb, KB, mb, MB, gb, GB, or whatever; the general consumer commonly doesn't see the distinction, nor would they be expected to check some federal website for a definition while they are shopping. These same consumers still have difficulty distinguishing between RAM and HD space when shopping for a system.
And if you feel that asking the mfg to label their hard drive with a disclaimer that once the drive is formatted, the amount of storage space will be somewhat less that the stated size would be a burden on the mfg, I'd strongly disagree. It would cost next to nothing to put a sticker on their box.
"Frivolous lawsuits hurt us all. They clutter the lawbooks with useless, confusing laws, tie up the courts and cost tons of money to hear, and suck money from companies that otherwise might go into developing better products"
If you wish to use a legal term of art then meritless, or as mentioned: "having no sound basis (as in fact or law) suffices. Such actions with rarity would rise to the level of precedent, much less case law BECAUSE by definition they are without merit. Obviously this case was had sufficient merit that WD's legal dept decided it was in their best interest to settle.
Instead of regurgitating some spiel you've heard played out by big insurance companies and the politicians in their pockets, why not point out a couple examples of "frivolous lawsuits" that you know have gone to trial, been reviewed by higher courts, and have become caselaw. 😉
regardless of whether one uses the term kb, KB, mb, MB, gb, GB, or whatever; the general consumer commonly doesn't see the distinction, nor would they be expected to check some federal website for a definition while they are shopping. These same consumers still have difficulty distinguishing between RAM and HD space when shopping for a system.
And if you feel that asking the mfg to label their hard drive with a disclaimer that once the drive is formatted, the amount of storage space will be somewhat less that the stated size would be a burden on the mfg, I'd strongly disagree. It would cost next to nothing to put a sticker on their box.
"Frivolous lawsuits hurt us all. They clutter the lawbooks with useless, confusing laws, tie up the courts and cost tons of money to hear, and suck money from companies that otherwise might go into developing better products"
If you wish to use a legal term of art then meritless, or as mentioned: "having no sound basis (as in fact or law) suffices. Such actions with rarity would rise to the level of precedent, much less case law BECAUSE by definition they are without merit. Obviously this case was had sufficient merit that WD's legal dept decided it was in their best interest to settle.
Instead of regurgitating some spiel you've heard played out by big insurance companies and the politicians in their pockets, why not point out a couple examples of "frivolous lawsuits" that you know have gone to trial, been reviewed by higher courts, and have become caselaw. 😉
Frivolous, maybe not. Worthless to the consumers that were 'deceived', yes.
russw, you can spin this any way you want, but the end result of this class action lawsuit is the same as most others - lawyers are the winners, not the consumer. It just means more money for them and higher prices for us because of stupid stuff like this.
russw, you can spin this any way you want, but the end result of this class action lawsuit is the same as most others - lawyers are the winners, not the consumer. It just means more money for them and higher prices for us because of stupid stuff like this.
MErit or no merit it would have likely cost them more to go to court and win rather then just settle and get it over with. Even people that win lawsuits are often in financial ruin after paying all the legal fees. Many lawsuits are settled in order to save time and money whether there is merit or not.
QFT
They also dont know the difference between p4/athlons, should they sue intel because their 3.0ghz processors are slower than amd's 1.8ghz processors? Is it not just as deceptive, to advertise higher mhz because people think that is the only factor in a processor's speed? IMHO people just need to be more educated, a lawsuit based on stupidity IS frivilous.
Fingolfin269
Lifer
I think it's great that everyone cheers over this. It hurts a good HD company, gives you something you might never use, and makes some lawyers even richer. THIS IS AWESOME!
oh please. when you've got lawyers like this flying around the country on luxury jets named "Wings of Justice" whacking away at idiot juries like pinatas for multiple hundred-million-plus (half a billion in one case) dollar verdicts/settlements, it's a bit rich to patronize someone by claiming he is "regurgitating some spiel" when he suggests the court system can be abused by predatory lawyers. even in those instances where the plaintiff has a legitimate grievance, the awards have no basis in reality and are based on vengeance, not justice. the present case is merely a minor example of a general trend.
furthermore, the fact is you don't even need this case to set a precedent. if the average company has no faith in its ability to get a fair hearing in court even on groundless charges, they'll settle, and some parasite lawyer will get another jet. or maybe a space shuttle. in the end it's shareholders and tax payers who pick up the tab.
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 25K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes + WCL Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 25K
-
Discussion Intel current and future Lakes & Rapids thread- Started by TheF34RChannel
- Replies: 24K
-
-
