Controversies
In 2004, the website The Smoking Gun successfully ordered PhotoStamps with controversial images,[36] but Stamps.com updated their policy to prohibit images of world leaders or "any material that is vintage in appearance or depicts images from an older era."[37] The PhotoStamps program was ended by the USPS in 2020.[38]
In 2006, Salim Kara, credited by the USPS as the inventor of PC Postage, and his company Kara Technology, Inc. filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Stamps.com, alleging misappropriation of technology related to online postage systems. The case was resolved in 2010 through a settlement. According to a Stamps.com press release dated July 27, 2010, the company agreed to pay Kara Technology US$5.1 million to settle all claims, purchase the patents asserted in the litigation for US$0.4 million, and grant 35,000 stock options to Salim Kara. In total, the settlement was valued at US$5.5 million.
Stamps.com settled a $2.5 million consumer protection lawsuit from the State of California in 2015 over free trials that eventually converted into monthly service fees.[39] The press release cited "false and misleading advertising", which was corroborated by independent tech publishers.[40] Stamps.com maintains that such charges are valid and well-explained.
In 2015, Stamps.com settled with Express 1, aka Rapid Enterprises, for $10 million as a result of a dispute arising from the Stamps.com acquisition of ShipStation.[41]
In 2021, the company agreed to a $100 million settlement in a 2019 class-action lawsuit alleging that the company had misled investors about the strength of their relationship with the USPS.[42]
