A class action lawsuit accuses Chinese online software company Wondershare of allegedly misleading customers into agreeing into auto-renewal plans for its Filmora online video editing service.
The suit was filed Feb. 16 in Los Angeles federal court by named plaintiff Jessica Blum, of L.A., on behalf of herself and all others allegedly similarly situated. The complaint accuses Wondershare and its various entities of violating California's Automatic Renewal Law (ARL).
The plaintiff alleges that Wondershare deceptively enrolled consumers into its auto-renewal payment plan without disclosing essential facts about the nature of the payment. As a result, customers were unknowingly signed up for an automatically recurring payment plan. The plaintiffs argue that had they been aware of this, they would not have purchased the product subscriptions.
Specifically, Blum alleges she signed up for Filmora service in October 2022, and then was billed monthly, allegedly without her knowledge, until March 2023.
The court filing suggests that Wondershare has thousands of customers with an estimated annual revenue of $100 million dollars, largely fueled by these auto-renewals. The case seeks to challenge this practice and obtain redress for affected consumers.
The lawsuit seeks "all economic, monetary, actual, consequential, compensatory, and treble damages," plus punitive damages and attorney fees.
Blum and the plaintiffs' class are represented by attorney Robert Abiri, of Custodio & Dubey LLP, of Los Angeles.