Gamers Sue PlayStation: It's Not Clear They're Selling Licenses Rather Than Ownership of Games (aftermath.site)
- Reference: 0184014458
- News link: https://games.slashdot.org/story/26/06/21/0027229/gamers-sue-playstation-its-not-clear-theyre-selling-licenses-rather-than-ownership-of-games
- Source link: https://aftermath.site/sony-digital-transparency-lawsuit-buy-now/
> Four gamers are suing Sony Interactive Entertainment for allegedly breaking a California law that requires digital storefronts selling games to make it clear people are buying licenses, not actually owning the games.
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> Sony Interactive Entertainment's PlayStation store uses language like "Buy Now" and "Confirm Purchase," [2]lawyers wrote in a complaint filed on Thursday ... "In reality, consumers who 'purchase' digital games through PlayStation do not obtain ownership of those products," lawyers wrote. "Instead, PlayStation grants only a limited, revocable license to access the software, subject to multiple restrictions contained in a separate Software Product License Agreement"....
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> [T]he PlayStation store does have a disclosure. Above the "Confirm Purchase" button, there's a note: "By selecting [Confirm Purchase], you agree to complete the purchase in accordance with the PlayStation Terms of Service before using this content. You further acknowledge that your purchase of this digital product amounts to a license subject to the Software Product License Agreement." These four gamers aren't satisfied with that; they said in the complaint that it's too small, and that "a reasonable customer completing a purchase would not necessarily notice this disclosure."
"It's a proposed class action complaint, meaning the group of four gamers is asking a judge to grant them class action status."
[1] https://aftermath.site/sony-digital-transparency-lawsuit-buy-now/
[2] https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.472492/gov.uscourts.cand.472492.1.0.pdf
What does someone think "owning" a game would mean (Score:1)
Like it doesn't make any sense. What does "ownership" do?
All software is licensed.
Re: (Score:1)
Yeah, this just sounds like an attempt to extort some money from Sony at the end of the day. And Sony will likely settle, pay out, and everything will continue as it has been, just with some new font sizes and an extra click-through dialog stating the obvious -- you are not buying a digital product.
If the plaintiffs really cared so much about the "ownership" aspect they would be suing for the ability to back up and locally upload purchases to hardware, so they can play even if the PlayStation store stops wo
Re: (Score:3)
Did your purchasing a copy of Myst give you _only_ a license to play only a copy that works until Broderbund and/or Cyan says that license key only works for 1.5 years _or_ when they decide it won't work anymore?
No, it didn't. You had the physical disc, and a license key (I know Diablo II worked like follows): you install the game from disc(s) (either after inputting your key, or you'd have to input the key when loading the game for the first time); and even if you didn't have internet, the game would ver
Re: (Score:2)
Your argument mostly doesn't make sense as you are complaining about digital vs physical along with an example of a game that, originally, couldn't have even been sold digitally. Old software was sold with perpetual, forever licenses, because old software was sold as-is. The license works for that exact software in that exact state - no updates, no fixes. You've have never owned a copy of a game, unless they also gave you a copy of the source code - it's always been licenses. The presence of the internet ha
Waste of time (Score:5, Interesting)
And just like all the other similar lawsuits to this, it will won't get anywhere. Software sales have always worked this way (buying the license) and *online* software sales with server-sided or account-based licensing have always been inherently nontransferable (outside of selling your whole account privately). And Sony's store has the required legal disclosures. People not bothering to read the text that is plainly in front of them, or not understanding basic software licensing, is their own problem. I would call the lawyers repping these kids (no way they're older than 30) dumb for attempting this, but they're probably getting paid either way and thus don't care.
Re: (Score:2)
> will won't
Guess my brain decided halfway through not using the contraction that it did want to use it. Sigh.
revocable (Score:2)
Mostly, the difference is some legales, but the kicker is: "revocable". That is an insane difference. I'm quite sure it doesn't say you get a refund if they revoke your license.
Have you ever been able to buy the software? (Score:3)
Even if I go back to the 1990s and boxed retail software, you were never actually buying the software, your purchase was for the license to use it.
The real issue here is the gamers being sold software whose functionality is tied to third-party servers and denied first sale doctrine (the ability to transfer/resell their license if they want to someone else).
Re: (Score:3)
> The real issue here is the gamers being sold software whose functionality is tied to third-party servers and denied first sale doctrine (the ability to transfer/resell their license if they want to someone else).
It's more than just the right of first sale; with software that is licensed via server-side communication, nothing prevents the company from terminating your authorization for any reason, and you have basically no recourse at that point, other than to sue.
There's a lot wrong with software in the modern era.
Re: (Score:2)
> Even if I go back to the 1990s and boxed retail software, you were never actually buying the software, your purchase was for the license to use it.
> The real issue here is the gamers being sold software whose functionality is tied to third-party servers and denied first sale doctrine (the ability to transfer/resell their license if they want to someone else).
Thats always been a gross simplification of the rights generally involved with a software sale. While yes, technically its a license to use software, rat