As technology has become a major factor of running almost any business and conducting a majority of personal activities, ensuring that a system is safe from viruses or other compromising hazards is important to many California residents. Purchasing such protective software typically involves agreeing to terms of service, which could be considered a contract between the provider and the consumer. If the product they use to protect their computer does not provide the services it claims in a satisfactory manner, the contracts between businesses and consumers could possibly be considered to have been breached.

A woman is having such a dispute with Symantec Corp. after she purchased anti-virus software that she believed would protect her computer. She alleges that the company presented misleading advertising which led her to purchasing a product with a compromised code. According to reports, the code used by Norton Antivirus to protect computers from malicious software has been compromised by computer hackers.

The woman claims that the advertisement caused her to have a reliance on the product that the company waited six years to describe as compromised. Until the disclosure had been made, the woman along with many other consumers continued to purchase and use the software that they believed was providing quality protection. She also contends that if she had been made aware of the issue sooner, she would not have purchased the product.

Contracts between businesses and consumers are very important in order for the integrity of a company as well as its customers to remain intact. This case claims that because the company sold a defective product, the contracts made between those who purchased it had been breached. Business disputes can become very complicated for someone who may not have extensive knowledge of business laws, so information on California laws dealing with such disputes could help state residents better determine courses of action if they find themselves in a similar situation.

Source: mainjustice.com, Plaintiff Claims Symantec Antivirus Advertising Was Clearly Misleading, Jeffrey Benzing, Oct. 16, 2013