Netflix sued for antitrust violations over patenting activities

Here in lawsuit-crazy America there's only one thing to do if you don't like a lawsuit: file another suit, claiming that the basis for the original claim was illegitimate. That's the case with a recent filed class action lawsuit against Netflix, which argues that the company's lawsuit against Blockbuster violates antitrust law because the company fraudulently concealed prior art related to patents used to sue Blockbuster. Techdirt points out that this new lawsuit highlights prior art that Netflix knew about, but failed to include in its original patent applications, something it was required to do. Yeah, that's right, the whole affair hinges around the ineffective patenting system, which is the background for dozens of other technology related lawsuits. If this class action is successful, then Netflix will be left regretting ever filing against Blockbuster; if it's not, then the company's still got a whole lot of paperwork to do in its case against Blockbuster. As always, there's one group left lovin' the whole situation: the lawyers.

[elies @ May 19th 2007 5:21PM]

Can Anybody ban that idiot form spaming every post in engadget? There is a stupid spam comment on every single post! Poor guy... all he live's for is to wait until there's a new post to quickly post a ad-comment! So sad! Can somebody ban him? It's getting annoying.

[JJ @ May 19th 2007 5:13PM]

I think it's a great time to be a corporate or business lawyer nowadays. Look at all these lawsuits. -_-;;;

[paul34 @ May 19th 2007 5:16PM]

I'm glad. Netflix is a shady company who does nothing but fradulent advertising. I was recently forced to stop my subscription to the company.

I was originally in love with them... who wouldn't be? They were so awesome, or at least so I thought. It didn't take long until the honeymoon was over and I started uncovering article after article... I knew I was being cheated. I gave my end of the bargaining... Netflix promised me many good times of unlimited movies.

Well, she cheated. She stopped giving me unlimited. She lied to me, telling me "oh yea, unlimited!" and forcing me to not get what I paid for.

A crooked, sneaky, bunch of cons. I seriously hope they go out of business, because, quite frankly, they do not deserve to be in business - at least not in this country anyway.

It doesn't make a difference if its there's a bit of tiny print in the T&C - the fact of the matter is, they LIED to me and CONTINUE to LIE to all their subscribers on the $18 plan (which is actually $20 after taxes, by the way).

If you advertise unlimited, you better provide it. If you can't provide it, don't advertise it. If you went to McDonalds everyday, would you be happy if you started only getting a bun all of a sudden? "We have to serve the other customers, sir."

"umm... but I PAID for this, and you promised that in exchange for my money, you'd give me the promised product."

Netflix == thieves and scoundrels. 'Nuff said.

[BrandonLehman @ May 19th 2007 8:37PM]

I'm sorry, what are you talking about?

Obviously it's not "unlimited" because you can only send films back and forth at a set speed due to the mail, but still... It's much cheaper than renting films from Blockbuster or some such place.

$20 would get you 4 DVD's. It's easy to get 10-15 DVDs each month on a $20 Netflix plan.

Not to mention the selection at Netflix is second to none, which, if you're a film buff who cares about more than the latest release, is almost priceless.

[modenadude @ May 19th 2007 11:02PM]

Yah man, what are you talking about? How do they not provide unlimited DVDs? Because you have a "3 at-a-time" plan? Once you have 3 in your home you cannot get anymore, is that how? That's the name of the plan! It's not "3 at-a-time" per month, it's just "3 at-a-time". It's amazingly easy to get more than 3 per month... you'd have to be really lazy not to get more than 3, and then it's your fault, not theirs. In the past 30 days, I've received 17 films from Netflix. I have the "3 at-a-time" plan too... 17! I also live on the West coast. I see no reason to complain.

[yoshi @ May 19th 2007 5:24PM]

Paul34, you're an idiot. Can't bother with specifics, huh? Might make you look stupid if you put those specifics in there, huh? People might not take your side, huh? Well, guess what. They aren't taking your side and they still think you're an idiot.

[paul34 @ May 19th 2007 5:32PM]

Sorry, I think you may have directed your comment towards the wrong person perhaps?

[paul34 @ May 19th 2007 8:42PM]

I suppose I was unclear, as I suppose I wrongly assumed many who would comment in this thread already use Netflix.

Of course I know that I cannot get a truly unlimited number of DVDs. That is a given.

What I am saying is that instead of processing in 1-2 days, Netflix purposely delays delivery so that you can get maybe one, or two DVDs at most in a week.

So that hardly makes for 10-12 DVDs a month, wouldn't you say?

Also, I didn't say anything about Netlflix's selection. I agree, its great... but its hard to actually get what you paid for. That's all I said.

To tell you the truth everyone else's comments are confusing me. If someone would explain what they're talking about (such as I attempted to do), then maybe I could have a civil discussion with you all.

However, it seems most Engadget commenters are set on simply creating argument for the sake of argument, rather than discussing people's experiences.

[BrandonLehman @ May 19th 2007 9:33PM]

I currently do subscribe to netflix with the unlimited 3 at a time level ($20). If I send a movie back in the monday mail, my next film is in my mailbox on Wed. If I watch a movie every day, with a three day turn around, I can get almost 1 new movie per day, sending one back every day.

I've only ever had one delay was actually last week, when they didn't have a copy of His Girl Friday (1940) at the local distro center. They sent me an e-mail telling me that it was coming and that it would be a day late. It ended up coming from the eastern US (I live on the west coast).

Most of the time I mess up the cycle because I can't always watch the movies quick enough to fully take advantage of the 3 at a time plan.

I'm not blindly a netflix fanboi, if they started slowing me down, I'd be upset, but so far they've been plenty speedy.

[paul34 @ May 19th 2007 11:32PM]

:sigh:

* Yes, I am on the 3-at-a-time plan ($18/month)
* Yes, I know I can't have more than 3 at a time
* That's not the point of what I'm saying ;-)

Look here! Hopefully this will finally make everything clear! LOL =)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11262292/

It takes the system a while to "learn" your renting habits. If you've only been with them 2-3 months, you probably won't notice yet. But rest assured, if you use the service more than 1-2 time per month (in other words, if you actually take advantage of the savings provided by such a plan in theory), then you'll get throttled eventually.

[modenadude @ May 20th 2007 1:11AM]

See, I don't know about this whole thing. I've been using Netflix for almost two years, and I've been averaging about 15 DVDs a month for probably 75% of the months (the most recent months). The only times I've gotten less DVDs were because I became busy. I've never gotten hiccuped by them. And I'm sorry if earlier I came off as one of those Engadget posters who is "set on simply creating argument for the sake of argument", you just came off to me as if you were making blind attacks at the company. Didn't like that very much ;), take care.

[Martin @ May 20th 2007 12:36AM]

if you go to www.blockbuster.com/total ,
you can actually get the free trial of the blockbuster total access plan which is like netflix BUT is TRULY unlimited.

The promotional code I got from my local store is:

06694b

I used to have netflix, but when i found out i couldn't get unlimited dvd's and they were slowing the release of dvd's to the mail, i tried this alternative.

you actually get the dvds from blockbuster online, and then you can go any blockbuster store and for EACH one of the onlines you turn in, you get a free movie!

I've doubled the movies i've rented from netflix almost 6x folds.

I think everyone should try blockbuster, even if you hate them. that promo code gives it to you FREE for 2 weeks even though you do need to put in a debit/credit card on file for verifying your account.

again the promo code is

06694b

[yoshi @ May 20th 2007 11:01AM]

We get 6 DVDs per week. We've been getting this many for about 2 years. The only time this varies is when we choose to not send a DVD back. This isn't often. So I suppose they may be losing money on us, but they don't seem to mind.

Maybe your local distributor is full of lazy bums. Maybe your local post office isn't as efficient as mine. Or maybe they just hate you.

As for Blockbuster, that kind of misses the whole point. Which is not having to get in my car and drive to the video store. Let alone not having to put on pants....

[Chimpotle @ May 20th 2007 11:25AM]

The thing about Blockbuster is that you don't have to go to the store to get a new movie, it's just an option if you really never want to be without a movie.

I used Netflix for about 2 years and have been on Blockbuster for about a year. I can't say I ever had any issue with Netflix delays or anything, but the Blockbuster deal is so far and away better. With a brick-and-mortar right down the street, I can pretty much watch my mail movie, turn it in for a store rental, and by the time I've watched that and returned it, I have my next movie in my mail box.

The other plus about Blockbuster is that you get the free coupon each month for a movie/game rental. So for $10 a month, I pay for one movie at a time which I can pretty much always have a new one on hand, and I can rent a game for my 360 or Wii, which normally runs $7-$8 on its own.

[David @ May 20th 2007 2:42PM]

My problem with netflix is that none of us and I don't care who you are getht the movies we want when we want, as soon as a good movie comes out they put it on very long wait, long wait, short wait etc etc, this forces me to get movies that I don't really want just so that I am using the service to the fullest. After all the time in business they know exactly how many DVDs they will probably need in order to satisfy the initial rush but they purposefully have too few so that it drags out the demand for the movie over months and at $20 per month they probably want to drag out demand for as long as possible.

[mimi @ Jun 17th 2007 3:27PM]

Hi
I have a question for all of you: How do you have the time to watch all those movies?????
I am reading your comments about how many movies a week/month you watch because i am researching this topic for a research paper.....and i am speechless. I wasn't aware that people watch so many movies. Wow.