SEATTLE – The Washington State Attorney General’s Office announced a settlement today with Sammamish-based SoftwareOnline.com, Inc. Under the settlement filed today in King County Superior Court, the company will refund affected consumers and pay $190,000 to resolve allegations that it misrepresented the extent to which its software is necessary for security, bombarded potential customers with pop-up ads and used deceptive billing practices.

OLYMPIA -- Attorney General Christine Gregoire announced today that Vibo Corporation of Miami, Florida has joined the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) and will pay Washington State $1.5 million immediately and approximately $35 million over the next ten years.

Vibo, which does business as General Tobacco, was the largest remaining tobacco company not signed on to the MSA. It is the exclusive U.S. importer of cigarettes from Protabaco, S.A., based in Bogota, Colombia, and sells a number of cigarette brands, including Bronco, GT One, Champion and Silver.

SEATTLE – The Public Counsel Section of the Washington State Attorney General’s Office today recommended the state Utilities and Transportation Commission reject a request by Avista to increase revenues by nearly $23 million by raising energy rates for its Eastern Washington customers.

SEATTLE --Attorney General Christine Gregoire said today Cyco.net, Inc., a New Mexico firm, has agreed to stop selling tobacco products in Washington.

Cyco.net and its president, Richard Urrea, were sued under the Consumer Protection Act for selling cigarettes to minors over the Internet.

The lawsuit was filed after an undercover investigation where a minor was able to buy cigarettes on a website provided by Cyco.net.

OLYMPIA -- Attorney General Rob McKenna announced today that he is asking Hollywood's major motion picture studios to insert anti-smoking public service announcements in all DVDs and videos in which smoking is depicted. 

McKenna and attorneys general in 31 other states sent letters to executives at Disney, Dreamworks, Fox, MGM, Miramax, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros.

SEATTLE -- Attorney General Christine Gregoire filed suit today accusing a Seattle fine arts dealer of selling fake Asian and Chinese art.

The consumer protection suit, filed in King County Superior Court, alleges Thesaurus Fine Arts engaged in unfair and deceptive acts by misleading customers. The Seattle business, now closed, sold pottery represented to be hundreds of years old from a downtown store-front location as well as through Internet auctions on eBay.

SPOKANE - After nearly a year of gathering evidence and nine months of active investigation, attorneys from Attorney General Rob McKenna’s Sexually Violent Predator Unit today filed a petition in Spokane County Superior Court for the civil commitment of Kevin Coe.

Coe was convicted in 1985 of the first degree rape of a Spokane resident and originally scheduled for release from the Washington State Penitentiary on Sept. 8.

Joint Consumer Alert from ATTORNEY GENERAL ROB MCKENNA and DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIES

SEATTLE – Attorney General Rob McKenna and Labor and Industries Director Gary Weeks warned consumers today to be on the lookout for private companies mailing notices that threaten businesses with up to $17,000 in fines, lawsuits and audits for not displaying labor law posters.

OLYMPIA– The Washington State Senate today approved a bipartisan package of sex offender bills developed by Attorney General Rob McKenna and his office’s Sexually Violent Predator Unit.

“These bills will give law enforcement important tools to help protect our children and our communities,” McKenna said. “I appreciate the support and cooperation of the members of the Senate and am looking forward to working with House members to ensure these important bills become law.”

SEATTLE -- The deadline to file claims in the Taxol antitrust case has been extended through Feb. 29, 2004. Thousands of claims have already been filed nationwide, but due to a substantial increase in the numbers of claims and of claim form requests, the deadline has once again been extended to give consumers additional time to submit claims.

Millions of dollars are still available to consumers who used the cancer drug Taxol or its generic equivalent, paclitaxel, from Jan. 1, 1999 through Feb. 28, 2003.