U.S. Court rules first sale doctrine does not apply to software

:dammit:

 

Looking at the Japanese version of that: I bet that's the first time "kuso-ge" was ever used in a legal brief :lol:

 

This is true, the law can be more easily enforced on this spectrum of distribution. I don't know, but it looks like in Steam you can't 'sell' your games individually within your account, unless you sell the whole account.

I'd say that 20 years from now, every game will be distributed over the net and there won't be any gamestops.

 

Hmm, would they refuse to sell to a person under the age of 18? You can't really enter into a contract here in the US with a minor.. this seems like it could stir up a legal shit storm if they try making it illegal to resell used games and or software.

 

It'll never go through

 

This might be kinda off topic, but things like Steam really piss me off. There's alot of PC games that used to have servers set up which have long been shut down. It's basically an integral part of the game which you can't play anymore. What will happen if Blizzard shuts down the WoW servers in a couple of years? All those games everyone bought will basically be useless.

Also the idea of forbidding people to sell their stuff is just ridiculous. If I've finished reading a book and don't want it anymore I can sell it. Why shouldn't I be able to sell a game? There's no difference right?

 

But that's exactly what they plan with digital distribution. You pay for it, not to own the game, but to be able to play it as long as it's supported.

No matter what companies say, digital distribution will always be bad for the customer. No one can guarantee how long Steam, XboxLive or PlayStationNetwork or any others will keep our purchase info or let us re-downloand them. They work know, but in 10 years? Probably not.

That's why digital distribution sucks and i hope it never becomes the standard.

 

That's b/c it was never a fully fledged law. People put that shit on the backs of the games. People kept reselling. The game manufacturers went to court and lost. You could always resell software in Japan. The only weird thing is you can rent music but not games.

Yeah, b/c it's not "for real" if it only makes it through the Federal appeals court unanimously.

That's why God made hackers.

 

Well consider the types of software they are applying this to I think we're ok. I mean can you go and resell windows 7? sure you could go and resell your product key...but lets see if it passes authentication when you install it

As for Games I doubt this would be applied But I think the public will eventually get so pissed off at copyright nazis at some point that somebody will get hurt.

 

If I rent or lease a car I cant sell it.

If I bought that car, I can do whatever the fuck I want to it, including selling it!

If game companies dont want me to sell MY GAMES then just let me play them for free from a server, that way I never pay, ergo never OWN the games in the first place.

Fucking A

 

I think you guys are missing the point here. You are not buying the software, you are buying the software agreement. If in that agreement it says you can't resell the product then, then law is vild. The keyword here is that you aren't really buying the game (product), you are buying the agreement that lets you play the game. But you don't own the game, unless it says so in the agreement.

Confused? There will be a test later.

=Hugh

 

Games fall under the same Vien as Music/Movies and have been treated as such. But Computer software has been for years

 

I'm buying a physical product.
You can see where this goes... damn any sort of "agreement"

 

:nod:

 

Digital distribution of DRM-protected software will always be bad for the customer. For a better model see gog.com and the like.

 

I wouldn't be opposed to some sort of law stating that used game sales were forbidden within a year of the release date, I suppose. Well, I WOULD be opposed actually, but I'd be LESS opposed than forbidding them altogether.

The vast majority of used game sales involve games that aren't generating revenue for their developers/publishers any longer and may even be wholly out of print.

I guess I can understand M$ not wanting me to go pay $40 for a used copy of Reach tomorrow when I could be paying them $60 for a new one, I get that. I'd rather they make some sort of limited physical resale law rather than switch to digital distribution.

 

This would be impossible to enforce on a person-to-person basis. Sure, it would prevent physical retailers bigtime... but it wouldn't cover other avenues so easily. eBay would be tricky if you think about it.

But.. Gamestop (and co.) IS the biggest source of used games for people here in the U.S., so I see how that might "work".

 

In terms of digital distribution, I don't own any game that I've bought off of steam, I only own the right to play the game on Valve's system. The court found that it is legal for companies to say that I can't sell that right, IE, that license.

This has been pretty accepted when applied to Steam, XBL, PSN, etc. Unfortunately it might now be applied to old-fashioned boxed games as well.

Here's what I see happening: the courts will somehow prevent this from applying to physical copies of software, but publishers will make the industry digital-distribution only in a few years. So we get screwed anyway.

 

As the courts very well SHOULD prevent it from happening to physical copies. Games don't deserve to be treated any different from other physical goods in the resale aspect.

 

I think 10 years ago this might have been a lot worse but everything is slowly going the way of digital downloads... it's not just music or movies.

Blockbusters and Gamestop or whoever else is on the highstreet nowadays will all be long gone soon (if they haven't already closed down)

As user Hugh rightly pointed out, you're just buying a contract that says you can play the game... you don't own the game. Same shit with consoles (in a sense) > You can't modify them because you don't, erm..um...actually own them.

Get used to those 'agreements' folks because that IS the future (well, it's always been like that, it's just starting to become more apparent/noticable to the end user now, with the passing of this law)

The truth is, though, no matter which way they swing it... shit gets hacked and people download/stream whatever they want. I'm not upset because as long as they try to claw back every cent... the majors are still (utterly) fucked nowadays. The hype machine (monster) is slowly dying out and the playing field is where it belongs, with the people.

Rant over.