• January 6, 2006

The Federal Trade Commission has settled lawsuits against two purveyors of allegedly phony anti-spyware software--MaxTheater, Inc., which sold "Spyware Assassin," and TrustSoft, Inc., which distributed "SpyKiller."

MaxTheater and Thomas Delanoy, an officer of the company, agreed to pay $76,000 to settle the charges. The agreement also bans Delanoy and MaxTheater from ever again selling anti-spyware products.

As for TrustSoft and its officer, Danilo Ladendorf, they will pay around $1.9 million to settle the charges, but TrustSoft can continue to sell SpyKiller. TrustSoft and Ladendorf agreed that they wouldn't make false claims about SpyKiller, and also wouldn't use its software to deliver ads.

Both companies allegedly preyed on consumers' fears of spyware by promising to remove all traces of it from their machines. In a complaint filed last February, the FTC charged that MaxTheater boasted that its "SpywareAssassin" software, which it sold for $29.95, would remove all spyware from users' computers. Instead, claimed the FTC, the product left nearly all spyware intact on the computer.

The suit against TrustSoft dates back to June. The FTC in that case charged that TrustSoft first sent consumers pop-ups warning them that their computers were infected with spyware, then sold them fake removal software for $39.95 a program.