CompTIA v. TroyTec Settled; Company Pulls CompTIA-Related Products from Site, Denies Wrongdoing
12/19/2001 -- The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) has settled its second lawsuit this year against a test prep company it accused of violating the organization's copyright by allegedly selling study materials containing questions that appear on CompTIA exams.
The organization filed suit against Troy Technologies USA and its owner, Garry L. Neale, in the United States District Court, Western District of Texas on Nov. 28 (The Computing Tech v. Neale 5:01cv1078). The case was settled earlier this month.
CertCities.com was unable to obtain the complete terms of the settlement before press time. We attempted to reach both sides for comment on this story. Neale, who earlier this year dissolved his Troy Technologies USA DBA and formed TestKiller LTD, did not respond to our request for comment, but did release the following statement on the Troytec.com Web site, in which the company denies any wrongdoing:
Troy Technologies USA ("Troy") has recently settled a dispute with The Computing Technology Industry Association, Inc. ("CompTIA") regarding certain study guides that Troy previously sold pertaining to various certification exams offered by CompTIA. Specifically, CompTIA alleged that Troy's study guides for CompTIA's A+ Hardware, A+ Operating Systems, Network+, and I-Net+ certification exams violated CompTIA's copyright and trademark rights, among other rights. Without admitting any wrongdoing and, in the interest of ending the dispute and avoiding controversy, Troy has agreed to cease distributing any study guides directed to CompTIA's exams pursuant to a stipulated court order. Accordingly, Troy will no longer offer any study guides for any of the CompTIA certification exams.
CompTIA was unable to respond to our request for comment by press time, but a spokesperson said that the company should be prepared to make an official statement shortly.
It is unknown whether the names of those who bought the study guides were given to CompTIA as part of the settlement terms. This was a condition of the settlement in CompTIA's suit against Keen Interactive's Cheet-Sheets.com, which was settled earlier this fall (click here for story). CompTIA posted a statement regarding its motives behind this settlement condition on its Web site.
The Cheet-Sheets.com site went down a few weeks after its settlement was reached, and has yet to go back online. CertCities.com has been unable to verify whether the company has gone out of business or if the site is down for other reasons, like technical issues.
CertCities.com will bring you more on this story as it develops. -B.N.
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There are 105  user Comments for “CompTIA v. TroyTec Settled; Company Pulls CompTIA-Related Products from Site, Denies Wrongdoing”
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| 12/20/01: Kilo says: |
I have A+, Net+, MCSE 4.0, MCP 2kPro and Server. As a college professor, I have seen about every "study guide" out there including the TroyTecs. TroyTec questions were close or exact to several of the actual questions. But if ANYONE relied just on the Troy questions they would have FAILED the exam. There are enough brain-dumps out there to get a good idea but nothing replaces experience. TroyTecs were over rated. One other comment. What does a list of names of those who bought the TroyTec accomplish. Will CompTIA revoke a cert due to ownership! |
| 12/20/01: Jim says: |
I have used Troytech on recent exams. They would have been much harder without the Troys, although I have been studying constantly. I kind of feel quilty, expect it is so hard to find the time to study. |
| 12/20/01: Madog says: |
Troytecs are for cheaters. Passing the test isn't the point-knowing what you're doing is. I'm very glad to see these people, who are facilitating cheating and breaking the NDA, get what they deserve. Too many people get hung up on cert chasing, which only diminishes their value. Now, if M$ would just do something about the people cheating their way through its exams... |
| 12/20/01: Vin says: |
I have used MS certified training and official approved study guides and passed certs. I have used Troys and passed certs. In either case, my knowledge level has not changed. Any really good employer is going to "test / ask questions" of candidates. Only some inept manager who probably shouldn't have that job to begin with is going to hire someone base on Certs alone. |
| 12/20/01: Zim says: |
Certification is a game or a drug to some people. To others it is a tool to help keep you sharp. I will use any tool that helps in that respect--to gain knowledge and understanding in that field. Troytechs are a great resource in aiding that knowledge. It is like Cambells soup--so condensed. |
| 12/20/01: Tom Anonymous says: |
I agree with Kilo. Anyone using TroyTechs alone will not stand a chance of passing most tests, at least MS Active Directory Design and the like. The user is only cheating themselves if this is the only resource they use.Used as a supplement or as a review for other texts and hands-on, they can be of benefit though. |
| 12/20/01: Trojan says: |
Reply to maddog anonymous Users of the TroyTech, are not necessarily cheaters, I myself have used them in combination with setting up and deploying a large corporate W2000 network & passing the exams. They can be seen as a large crib sheet, which many other Exam cram style books have. Also if your going to make comments about a product you should at least have used them. If you had you would not be making such ludicrous statements. |
| 12/20/01: Anonymous says: |
Yea, and stop the music downloads while your at it too! You want to get anywhere go get a real degree, BS, BA, MBA, MIS. Don't you think the software companies have made enough money? |
| 12/20/01: anonymous says: |
whats the difference between troytec and transcender? why isnt comptia going after transcender as well? anyone in the field knows that all of these "study guides" are nothing more than rip off of the exams. why isnt microsoft going after any? |
| 12/20/01: TestingCenteOwner says: |
If you used TroyTec, you cheated. Period. You knew it. And you did it anyway. You deserve to have your cert yanked! "but it's hard" WA! Unfortuantely, Microsoft won't have the balls to decert y'all as they should. But I'm hoping they make everyone retest. Fail the retest and you're decerted. Bummer. We've been reporting every tester that came into our center to Microsoft that admitted using Troytec for over a year. You've got it coming and I'm gonna sit back and laugh! |
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