A group of mobile content providers, including Cylon, Cellfish
Media, Predicto Mobile, Too Lazy, the application provider 3C
Interactive, and the aggregator OpenMarket, have agreed to settle a
number of class action lawsuits against them, involving claims that
these companies charged wireless subscribers for "mobile content"
without authorization.
"Mobile
content" refers to electronic products such as ringtones, games,
graphics, news, and other alerts that are provided through mobile phones
and are charged directly to consumers' mobile phone bills. Although a
relatively new form of commerce, mobile content has evolved to form a
large and increasingly important industry.
The Defendants have denied any
wrongful conduct, and the settlement is in no way a judgment or ruling
by the Court that any party engaged in any wrongful or illegal conduct.
The settlement has been preliminarily approved by the Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois; it provides for refunds for unauthorized mobile content charges to settlement members, and attorney's fees of up to $3.2 million.
Settlement members are eligible to receive a one-time cash award of $10.00,
or a refund of up to three months of content subscription charges. Per
the lawsuits FAQ's: Members of the settlement class include any person
in the U.S. and its territories who, at any time prior to September 13, 2010, was billed and paid for unauthorized content from any of the settling Defendants.
Individuals
can find out if they are eligible by scanning past phone records for
short codes that identify the various mobile content companies.
Participants in the AT&T, Mobile Messenger, Media Breakaway, mBlox,
m-Qube or Jamster! Settlements are not eligible.
In
addition to the payout, the Defendants are required to agree to adhere
to certain guidelines for mobile content sales and marketing--including
properly disclosing billing terms--as well as promptly refunding
unauthorized content.
Attorneys Jay Edelson, Myles McGuire, Rafey S. Balabanian, and Steven L. Lezell of Edelson McGuire, LLC, were appointed by the Court to serve as the attorneys for the class. Full details can be found at www.MobileChargesClassAction.com. Class members may also call the claims administrator directly at 1-888-505-5589 or class counsel at 1-866-354-3015.