Symantec sues for adware ruling against Hotbar.com

The antivirus supplier said it is not seeking damages as part of the suit. Rather, it is petitioning for a declaratory judgment by the court to affirm its decision to treat certain Hotbar programs as adware and thus a security risk.

Symantec wants the right to detect the programs as adware and give customers the ability to remove them from their computers.

"By asking the court for clarification on this issue in our favor, we hope to continue alerting our customers about the presence of these program files, proteting them against possible security risks," Joy Cartun, senior director of Symantec legal affairs, said in a statement.

Hotbar, based in New York, could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.

Earlier this year, SC Magazine reported on the problems antivirus suppliers and other firms face in dealing with spyware and adware due to a lack of industry-standard definitions for the sneaky types of software.

www.symantec.com