A court has thrown out a software contract clause prohibiting customers from publishing reviews of a product, report Matt Richtel at the New York Times and Lisa Bowman at CNet.
A New York state court made the ruling in a suit brought by the New York Attorney General’s office. The clause in question says, “The customer will not publish reviews of this product without prior consent from Network Associates Inc.”
Richtel reports that the court found the clause to be “deceptive.” I haven’t found a copy of the court’s opinion, so I can’t be sure what exactly that means. But the New York Attorney General had argued that the clause was clearly unenforceable, so that inserting the clause was essentially a way to trick users into believing it was illegal to review the product.
More on this once I find a copy of the court’s opinion.
