Skip to main content

Reminder: Kickstarter can pull the plug on your project for no reason

kickstarterAs the number of successfully-funded Kickstarter projects continue to grow (and the amount of money requested and received), the potential for abuse of the service remains a problem for both Kickstarter – and those using the service. Kristen “M.K.” Ducote and her husband, professional race car driver Chapman, are two examples of that latter point of view, having launched a lawsuit against the company for pulling the plug on their campaign just five days after launch.

The Ducotes were using the platform to raise money to publish Naked Paddock, a book written by Kristen about “life, love and drama in the world of professional motorsports.” After being invited to appear on the reality TV show “Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian Hit Miami” to promote the book and the fundraising campaign to publish it, Kickstarter allegedly cancelled the campaign just days after it had gone live.

Recommended Videos

To make up for this unforeseen event, the Ducotes are suing Kickstarter for breach of contract, fraudulent inducement, and unjust enrichment. They’re also asking for more than a million dollars in restitution for damaging their reputation “by the implication to the tens of thousands of people that were marketed to view [the Kickstarter campaign] that their product… was somehow fraudulent or non-existent or unavailable.” One could only wonder how much of that money would be earmarked for the eventual publication of Naked Paddock, of course. Surely if the novel remains unpublished if the Ducotes win, then the question of reality of the book will be answered.

According to the lawsuit filed in April, the Ducotes considered the “unexpected and unexplained actions by Kickstarter” a surprise.. The lawsuit suggests that “it is almost as if Kickstarter decided to pull the plug at the exact moment they knew MK, Ducotre and [prospective publisher] War Chest needed them the most.”

Kickstarter’s response is a little less excitable, and revolves around one basic idea: The company can close down any campaign it wants, and everyone who signs up knows that because it explicitly says so in the platforms terms of service agreement. Sure enough, the Terms of Use are clear that “Kickstarter reserves the right to reject, cancel, interrupt, remove, or suspend a campaign at any time and for any reason.” 

Furthermore, the ToS also points out that “Project Creators should not take any action in reliance on having their project posted,” and Kickstarter “does not guarantee that any Content will be made available through the Service.” In other words, it’ll be difficult to prove breach of contract when the contract explicitly states that the company can do exactly what it actually did. Perhaps unsurprisingly, however, no one is backing down from the threat of legal action just yet. 

If this makes it to court, this could end up being a spectacular spectacle of law gone wrong.

Graeme McMillan
Former Digital Trends Contributor
A transplant from the west coast of Scotland to the west coast of America, Graeme is a freelance writer with a taste for pop…
How to change margins in Google Docs
Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content -- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Read more
What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app
A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Read more
Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs
A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

For the last few decades, Microsoft Word has been the de facto standard for word processors across the working world. That's finally starting to shift, and it looks like one of Google's productivity apps is the heir apparent. The company's Google Docs solution (or to be specific, the integrated word processor) is cross-platform and interoperable, automatically syncs, is easily shareable, and perhaps best of all, is free.

However, using Google Docs proves it still has a long way to go before it can match all of Word's features -- Microsoft has been developing its word processor for over 30 years, after all, and millions still use Microsoft Word. Will Google Docs' low barrier to entry and cross-platform functionality win out? Let's break down each word processor in terms of features and capabilities to help you determine which is best for your needs.
How does each word processing program compare?
To put it lightly, Microsoft Word has an incredible advantage over Google Docs in terms of raw technical capability. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Microsoft has added new tools and options in each successive version. Most of the essential editing tools are available in Google Docs, but users who are used to Word will find it limited.

Read more