As pointed out elsewhere in thread, it is, and you can then incur the legal costs of recovering your $50 or whatever the "lifetime" fee was. If the company wasn

As pointed out elsewhere in thread, it is, and you can then incur the legal costs of recovering your $50 or whatever the "lifetime" fee was. If the company wasn't completely retarded about it, even a class action with attorney's fees is probably not going to be that costly. For the company doing this, it's essentially a promotional cost. Doing it in such a way that generates negative PR later seems to make the whole thing a waste of time, but that's the calculus that a company does. Seems much smarter to me to make these things "free for x months/years" etc. and at least cap your costs if this approach is the best way to get signups.