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Sony Sues Amergence for Developing Harmful Software

Record company Sony BMG has filed a suit against Amergence Group, whose previous name was SunComm International, for installing harmful software onto PCs in 2005. The company has demanded $12 Million in compensation for damages the software caused.

In 2005, SunnComm's software called MediaMax was installed on a few CDs of Sony BMG. The software that was designed to restrict a disc from having too many copies reportedly caused trouble on users' computers worldwide.

The U.S. state officials had investigated Sony, whose DRM software was the core issue in a number of lawsuits. Sony paid $5.75 Million in restitution in many cases. According to an earlier agreement, it paid users $7.50 for every CD and went through audits for the forthcoming DRM software.

The MediaMax program created problems by forming a directory on PCs, which could enable hackers to invade an affected computer. Sony accused Amergence Group because its software failed to perform what it promised. The lawsuit therefore claims unfair trade practices and negligence on the apart of Amergence Group, said security experts. Channelregister published this in news on July 16, 2007.

Just weeks before the rage relating to the MediaMax flaw in 2005, there were talks of another bit of DRM software included in Sony BMG compact discs. U.K. firm First 4 Internet's software named XCP had installed a rootkit program on the computer systems.

Attackers found the XCP technology a useful tool to download and run malware while users trying to eliminate the rootkit experienced crashes on their CD-ROM drives. Since the rootkit program runs at the basic level of systems, it allows undetected code execution.

In this way, the software enabled hackers to access the operating system of the PC. Computer experts and users blamed the software as unsafe and capable of exposing a PC to hacking.

But Amergence Group is preparing to prove itself innocent against the accusations it believes are unwarranted, said the company.

One of the allegations in BMG's suit is that SunnComm's CD DRM software called MediaMax had defects and that the small company was under a contract to pay Sony against consumers' charges.

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