Zango yesterday dismissed (without prejudice) a lawsuit against Australian software maker PC Tools because the fundamental reason for the suit has been rectified. Prior to the filing of the lawsuit in May, PC Tools was literally and systematically eliminating a previous version of Zango software from consumers' machines without notice of any sort or any opportunity for consumers to object.

Since that time, PC Tools has made changes and no longer eliminates or blocks Zango software as it did previously. In addition, Zango is now offering consumers version 10.0 of its software, which removed code remnants from prior versions that, in theory, could result in a "false positive" detection by scanning applications.

In light of these developments, Zango felt it appropriate to dismiss the case and eliminate the distraction inevitably caused by any litigation. "Without prejudice" means the case could be reinstated by Zango if necessary.

Going forward, however, we hope to focus on working proactively with scanning application companies; after all, security, safety and consumer privacy are of upmost importance to both the scanning application and desktop advertising industries.