MagicJack sues Boing Boing, gets bounced out of court
By Vlad Savov 
posted February 24th 2010 5:45AM
posted February 24th 2010 5:45AM
The whole thing could've been just a nice warning tale about not getting into contracts without reading the fine print, but MagicJack CEO Dan Borislow, hardly a man who shrinks from controversy, felt so offended by Boing Boing's, erm, statement of factual reality that he took them to court, citing that his company was exposed to "hate, ridicule and obloquy" (we had to look that last one up, it's just another word for ridicule, which makes the whole thing a tautology. Lawyers, eh?). Unsurprisingly, he lost the case, but he did manage to squeeze in one last act of shady behavior prior to his loss by offering to pay for Boing Boing's silence regarding the proceedings and costs. After he was turned down, MagicJack's coffers were still lightened by $54,000 to cover the defendants' legal fees, whereas its reputation can now be found somewhere in the Monster Cable vicinity of pond scum central. Great job, Boing Boing.
This is what is wrong with our legal system... you can't even state negative FACTS about a company's products without some schmuck suing you.
And even though the case got thrown out, it still clearly cost Boing Boing a considerable amount of money just to prove that they are in the right.
No wonder most "news" sources are simply regurgitated press-releases... true journalism has gotten to be too expensive to enforce.
@Hazdaz Actually MJ did end up paying for Boing Boing's legal fees: "After he was turned down, MagicJack's coffers were still lightened by $54,000 to cover the defendants' legal fees"
Though, they should have been also hit with something additional for being dorks about the whole thing.
@okeemike I think Haz was saying, how in the hell did it even get that far into the legal system.
We have so many frivolous law suits in the US it's just nuts. Like someone breaking into your house, you shoot them and they survive to sue you. Makes sense right?
@MrGutts What do you mean "got that far into the legal system"? It was essentially dismissed at the earliest possible time. It didn't go to court, and nearly all of the legal costs were covered for the defendants. What exactly do you think should have happened instead?
The U.S. legal system may have its flaws, but this particular case is not an example.
@drumist Honestly I don't know the way the legal system is setup in the US, it's just sad it takes getting in front of a Judge and waisting his time and the tax payers time for something like this.
This morning I sit here watching CNN and I already see 2 stories about people sueing for some crap. One the KC Royals mascot hit someone with a freaking hotdog and then some male ESPN anchor offended some female anchor.
@MrGutts
That's why you make sure they don't survive if you're going to shoot them.
@okeemike
Boing Boing is only going to get their legal costs returned AFTER THE FACT.
They still had to front a considerable amount of money just to defend themselves against this BS. I could easily see some smaller/less well funded company (think mom and pop operation) having to close down just to pay for legal support to prove that they were right... the fact that they are getting that money back in the end is not exactly consolation in my opinion... some of these legal battles can last years and years and they would have been out that amount of money all that time.
This is also how scumbag companies like Monster Cable work - they will pick on any "little guy" with Monster in the name and sue the pants off of them. You think that puppet company or that mini-golf company have $50k laying around just to defend throw at lawyers?
@MrGutts
Lets clarify something here - the VAST majority of law suits in this country are company versus company. All these other ones of an individual suing another individual are much less common but get way blown out of proportion in the news.
@Hazdaz California is a litigious state (more litigious than most) and lawsuits against individuals happen all the time. FWIW, my mom owns a small strip mall, and she got sued because a guy claims he was wheelchair-bound and wasn't able to find adequate handicap parking. What did he want? He wanted the parking fixed (something that as far as we could tell, there was already a single handicap parking spot with a ramp), and a few thousand dollars because he wasn't able to patronize a flower store. A freaking flower store. Our attorney said the plaintiff's lawyer has a ton of these lawsuits pending. This is similar to what happened like 5 years ago, when a (different) law firm in LA went around and sued a plethora of Asian restaurant owners for not having public restrooms available (my family is Asian). Again, FWIW. Perhaps this only happens in LA (I've lived in LA for most my life).
Hahaha!
I always had a bad feeling about Magic Jack, and now I know why.
Is that EULA even legal? I know that in sweden, if a company adds illegal things to the EULA, they're not valid. Consumer rights can't be removed through shady contracts.
@fabarati
"That is to say, every purchaser of the product was agreeing to something he or she hadn't (and couldn't have, without tracking the URL down via Google) read."
Where does this sound familiar...
Oh yeah, all the US Laws!
You stick your dongle where it doesn't belong, and you'll get wacked...
Is it possible to NOW get to the EULA for the normal person suckered into buying a MJ?
@bullshitexpresscom ... I just went to the obvious URL and the entire MJ web site just appears to be a promo for the dubious "free trail offer"... no links (not even in the footer small print text) to anything other than to the sign up page and a link back to the home page in the header.
Going through the sign up process, once you put your address details in, you get to go to page 2 of 2 where you put in your credit card details and STILL no EULA.
The word "scam" comes to mind.... OOPS... watch out... Lawyer alert..
LOL....
EDIT: I just went back to check something and the words at the bottom of the page (customer care/testimonials etc) now work! WOW!!!
Oh yes... and the stupid counter at the top of the page (which at 6:14am my time read 10200 and something -- can't recall the exact number now), is now at ZERO!
WTF????????
Yet another example of corporations not dealing with "responsibility" and fixing the problem but trying to fast track to blame others.
Also it would be really nice if lawyers could be penalized for wasting our legal systems time. I mean really was it not apparent that this shouldn't even have gone to the courts?
Boing Boing? Sound like a name of an Asian porn movie.
@KGB
Except not half as interesting.
Boing Boing must love the press from this. I know they are desperately trying to stay relevant.
@glamajamma
I stopped reading that site when Corey Doctrow asked readers to nominate him for a Hugo Award.
Magic Jack is not a scam, since the device actually does what it is advertised to do. It would be a scam if there were hidden charges. The problem with Magic Jack is that their customer service is sometimes very responsive, but sometimes not as responsive, and they sell their product in a cheezy-sleezy way on late night TV. I use them for international calling, and have been satisfied with their service. On the other hand, it is not something I would use for a business or use as my main phone.
@Dr Yusuf AlKindi
It's a scam if they sucker you into being bound to terms you are unaware of, regardless of whether or not they provide the service. Our personal information is currency these days, if Google has taught us anything. Hidden costs of privacy are as bad as hidden costs of money, if not worse.
I wouldn't have known anything about the company until this lawsuit. Possibility: lawyers don't think about company's reputation even if it is "defending" it - they just want people to sue.
Well looks like I need to dig up the EULA from Magic Jack now. I don't use it a lot, its mostly a dumping ground number. I give it out to businesses and such I don't really want to talk to, but they want/need a number for some reason or another. I primarily use it for out going faxing which is a hassle in and of itself. However it was the cheapest way of having a fax line that gets used 3-4 times a year.
I feel like if I sued MagicJack after becoming a customer and presented my case that the EULA is not accessible at sign up, then it would be null and void.
i always knew something was up with this POS company. The advertisement alone had an overly exaggeration tone. I've used voips in the past and the best one is Skype.
I always felt a bit uneasy about Magic Jack. I thought it was the sleazy informercials, but it seems it goes much deeper than that.
nettalk is a good clean open alternative....they have a good user forum as well so you can see what issues are going on www.nettalk.com