EXCLUSIVE: CompTIA Settles Suit Against Cheet-Sheets.com; Launches Industry "Security Council"
10/3/2001 -- The Computer Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) confirmed to CertCities.com last week that it has settled a copyright and trademark lawsuit against Keen Interactive, owners of the site Cheet-Sheets.com.
According to court documents, the suit was originally filed by CompTIA in both the Cook County State Court and the U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois (where it was eventually litigated) on May 21. It stemmed from allegations that Cheet-Sheets.com -- known for its advertising motto of "actual questions from actual tests" -- violated CompTIA's copyrights by selling questions that appear on CompTIA's A+ and other exams.
"We feel obliged to protect the integrity of our program," said Lutz Ziob, vice president of certification for CompTIA. "We also believe that as an industry association...we have a role to play."
Ziob told CertCities.com that Keen Interactive agreed to the following settlement terms:
- Destruction by Keen of all CompTIA-related materials in its possession.
- Disclosure of all customers who purchased CompTIA-related materials.
- Payment of undisclosed financial damages.
- A permanent injunction prohibiting Keen from using CompTIA's trademarks on its site.
Keen Interactive confirmed the settlement terms to CertCities.com, but the company otherwise declined to comment for this story, citing legal concerns. CompTIA materials have not been available on the Cheet-Sheets.com Web site for several months.
The settlement and injunction were filed with the court on Sept. 17. Days later, CompTIA sent a mass e-mail to Keen's customers asking them to either destroy the Cheet-Sheets in their possession or send them to CompTIA (reports vary as to the e-mail's content).
CompTIA said it sent the e-mail for two reasons. "We wanted to notify them [the recipients] that the information they received violates a whole slew of copyright and other laws, both at the state and federal level," Ziob explained. "We also wanted to stop them from disseminating the information further and opening themselves up [to] possible liability."
When asked if CompTIA was planning on taking any disciplinary actions against those who received the Cheet-Sheets, Ziob replied, "Absolutely not...There's no kind of judgment here." Ziob also said that so far the response to the e-mail has been mostly positive: "Many [people] thanked us for letting them know."
While this suit has been settled, future litigation may not be far off. Several certification programs whose tests are also covered by Cheet-Sheets.com materials confirmed to CertCities.com that they have been keeping an eye on this suit, including Microsoft and Prosoft Training.com. (Novell declined to comment.)
None would confirm whether they are considering legal action, but Microsoft's Director of Certification Skills and Assessment Anne Marie McSweeney issued the following statement to CertCities.com: "Microsoft is aware of the issues surrounding Cheet-Sheets.com. The value of certification resides in a given credential clearly representing a skill set and demonstrating that an individual has experience working with the technologies. Those companies and individuals who attempt to circumvent the normal process of earning a certification do a grave disservice to the industry and to themselves. Microsoft is committed to maintaining the integrity of the MCP program credentials and supports exam security across the high-tech industry."
As part of the commitment, Microsoft -- along with Novell, Prosoft, Vue, Prometric and other industry vendors -- has joined a "security council" started by CompTIA to address the issue of "braindump" sites as well as other industry concerns. CompTIA is scheduled to announce the new council officially next week. According to Fran Linhart, director of certification for CompTIA, the council is a joint effort with the Association of Test Publishers. Rob Pedigo, former director of Sun Microsystems' certification program, has been hired to run the program, Linhart said.
While the security council has been in the works for some time, CompTIA was careful to point out that the Cheet-Sheets.com suit was not connected in any way to the council: "We [CompTIA] did this on our own," Linhart said.
CertCities will bring you more on this story as it develops. -B.N.
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There are 158 user Comments for “EXCLUSIVE: CompTIA Settles Suit Against Cheet-Sheets.com; Launches Industry "Security Council"”
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12/21/01: Anonymous says: |
Hey quit complaining about the CompTIA paper cards, Just go out and get it lamenated. However for the cost of the test you wuld think they could provide quality material. |
12/22/01: Bill "ripply" says: |
Isn't it human nature that people will travel the path of least resistance??? Just think about this, before all of the these certifications were important, there was NO way to separate those with REAL knowledge from those who wanted a chance in this industry. Well, now there is and companies DO want to know that candidates have SOME LEVEL of knowledge to distinguish themselves from the rest. THESE CERTIFICATIONS are MEANINGFUL and do provide verfication. In WAR, would you bring someone into your squad who had never been through bootcamp? Not likely. You want someone who has been tested at certain levels to give some kind of reference point. These Certs. do it! It's hard "just to get a certification!" If YOU are the one not utilizing all resources to get the certs. That's YOUR PROBLEM! Also, a lot of professors have knowledge with NO Real World experience. Just because you graduated from College doesn't mean, "you now deserve a job with an income of $60,000!" All it means is, you now have proven to the Real World, "you are a cadidate to look at!" But you needed to get that "PAPER" College Degree saying you are GRADUATED. In in the like, Certifications do the same for us! I am now a candidate to be looked at.....................has our industry grown because of these certifications? YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!!!! |
12/22/01: Just some guy... says: |
Whooo boy! who opened up this can of worms?!!! I have been studying and studying for my A+ core, I got it!!! What bothers me is that the same A+ test passer doesn't even know what fdisk means, or even deltree! That is the only reason why I would slam the cheat sheets. I know my crap! I earned the A+ and will be taking the OS soon. (as soon as I feel like I know that crap too!) I want to earn what I earn... cheaters are stupid! |
12/27/01: MEGA says: |
THIS here's query is a response to "JUST SOME GUY":...by the way you sound, the name fits you, highly doubt you making it in our IT industry..we dont hire IGNORAMUS...do you even think before you open your mouth?...as an IT manager for Ora***..i would not hire you...for your information my top IT's have used these braindumps..etc...great hard workers...passion for technology and get paid a LOT of $$$$..so who are you to judge who are the cheaters and who have earned what they've earned?...heed my warning...your welfare check is running out...you will be looking for a job, lets hope you dont run into me...good luck on your exam! A+ is the easiest exam out there my 14 year old brother passed both back to back last June before it went adaptive...let's see if you can pass the MCSE's,Solaris exams on the first shot...HIGHLY DOUBT IT..sorry to bust your bubble...but...here's a reality check: YOU WILL NOT PASS< especially if you FEEL like you know...glad you are not an IT guys like you make us look bad. -CCIE,CCNP,CCDP,CCSA(2K),MCSE(2K),MCDBA,MCSD,MasterCIW,Oracle8i/Developer,UNIX,RHCE,CompaqASE,Sun/Solaris/Sun/Java,HP,A+,NET+,LINUX+,SERVER+,I-NET+..etc.etc..etc. |
12/27/01: Anonymous says: |
to just some guy, you have big time issues man, you dont even deserve to put your 2cent here, these guys here are 80 to 100% fully certified and granted,know their stuff, you come here bragging about your stupid A+, dude, come back again when you have at least 5 certifications, you are a joke, lol |
12/27/01: mike says: |
HE SOUNDS LIKE A CHUNTI TO ME HAHAHAHAHA |
12/27/01: crack says: |
passed the A+ back to back in exactly 7minutes and 32 seconds, lets see you beat that hehehe. i should write a better book for these A+ wannabe's///just some guy///<==get a life you looser=)____________LOL<allthe way to the bank> |
12/27/01: Anonymous says: |
up in the sky, its a bird, its a plane, NO IT CANT BE SUPER-MCSE? |
12/28/01: Anonymous says: |
I flunked 70-210 yesterday. The exam was a joke! Read MOC including Server inside out, only to get fried by an expensive, pseudo I.Q. test. Can you say **consumer fraud**?? |
12/28/01: Anonymous says: |
certs are a joke, people don't waste your time |
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