Symantec has made an out-of-court settlement with Hotbar. Symantec has entered an agreement with Hotbar, where in it will dismiss the lawsuit it had filed against the adware maker, but will still classify Hotbar’s software as “adware”.


Symantec has made an out-of-court settlement with Hotbar. Symantec has entered an agreement with Hotbar, where in it will dismiss the lawsuit it had filed against the adware maker, but will still classify Hotbar’s software as “adware”.

Symantec has acknowledged that though its security software will still detect Hotbar’s products as adware, Symantec will no longer recommend that customers delete Hotbar. Instead, it has reclassified Hotbar’s toolbars as “low-risk” and will recommend users to ignore the software.

Joy Cartun, senior director of legal affairs at Symantec, said: “What we got out of this was peace from these guys. We didn’t change our detection, so in that way we won.

We’re telling users what it is, and assisting them to make a choice [whether to keep or remove Hotbar]. The change was driven not by Hotbar, but from what we learned what our customers wanted. They wanted guidance. The change was on a totally independent track [from the lawsuit].” [Source]

Oren Dobronsky, Chief Executive at Hotbar, said: “Both sides now recognize that our application is disclosing its behavior. We’ve gained that recognition, so that when users scan for spyware, they don’t get some kind of alert and by default, then remove it.” [Source]

For more information on Symantec’s lawsuit against Hotbar, click here.