Topic: EU court tells digital future to get stuffed; allows for reselling downloads?

[Shaymin]

http://www.lo-ping.org/2012/07/03/eu-court-ruling-allows-for-re-sale-of-used-games-by-end-users-you/

A recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union has officially stated that “an author of software cannot oppose the resale of his ‘used’ licences allowing the use of his programs downloaded from the internetâ€�.  In essence, it is now illegal in Europe for companies to try to stop you from selling your used digitally distributed software.
As for what qualifies as “usedâ€�?  Well, the ruling pretty much covers that as well:
 

The exclusive right of distribution of a copy of a computer program covered by such a licence is exhausted on its first sale.

And that is that. After a company has their first sale, they can’t do anything else about it.  This step is huge in the digital distribution sense. You are now officially allowed to sell your Steam / Origin / GoG games and whatever…if you live in Europe.

Does this mean the end of Steam sales? Is Gabe going to get rich selling giftwrap? How screwed is GOG?

[S-U-P-E-R]

I would take it to mean that EA/Valve/Blizzard/whoever would not legally be able to prevent people from selling their accounts or terminate those accounts.

People sell accounts all the time, maybe this just means they won't have to be sneaky about it anymore.

[Pixelated Pixies]

Awesome. I have a digital copy of NES Open Tournament Golf. Let's open the bidding at £0.01.

[SixthAngel]

Awesome.  Hopefully the US can have such great ruling in the future but I'm not holding my breath.

[TJ Spyke]

Awesome.  Hopefully the US can have such great ruling in the future but I'm not holding my breath.

The US isn't as nutty as the EU is with law, I don't see this happening anywhere else.

[Ian Sane]

I like this decision but the digital model still has some restrictions that can make used sales tricky.  These days you just buy the disc and put it in your system.  But if they tie an account with a physical system for example, that's harder to sell.  Also you probably have to sell your whole account.  It isn't like you can cherry pick some games to sell used if the download model doesn't allow it.  It's not like I can just sell you one of my Wii Ware games right now.

[Chozo Ghost]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this ruling just mean you have the RIGHT to resell digital games? Having the right to do it and being able to do it are two different things. Does this ruling force digital publishers to make it possible for the games to be resold? Or it just a symbolic ruling that has no practical effect?

Its just like how consumers have the legal right to make backups of discs they own, but that doesn't stop the disc makers from encrypting the discs or whatever which makes it either extremely difficult or impossible. So even though you have the RIGHT to make backups, you might not necessarily be able to do so and the disc makers are not obligated to help you do that. Figuring out how to do it is your problem, and if you can't do it that's also your problem... again you have the RIGHT to do it, but that doesn't mean you can do it technically speaking.

[Ian Sane]

I assume it would mean that if I find a way to sell you my digital games, the pulisher can't take legal action against me.

[Chozo Ghost]

That's what I was thinking, but you still have to figure out a way to be able to do that... and aside from selling your account I don't see any way you could do that.

[Morari]

The US isn't as nutty as the EU is with law, I don't see this happening anywhere else.

Exactly, the US has dozens of corporations making sure that the right laws are passed.

[Chozo Ghost]

How is a court ruling that upholds consumer rights "nutty"?

[UncleBob]

If a consumer doesn't want to purchase a limited license to a product, then the consumer should spend their dollars elsewhere.

I often do.

[BranDonk Kong]

Awesome.  Hopefully the US can have such great ruling in the future but I'm not holding my breath.

The US isn't as nutty as the EU is with law, I don't see this happening anywhere else.

Nutty, or "fair." US consumer laws are fucking garbage (and basically non-existent, unless they help corporations).

[nickmitch]

That's not true. The UCC protects tons of natural persons.

[NWR_insanolord]

This isn't going to change anything, really. I see it being like the special exemption the US made in the DMCA that made it legal to jailbreak your phone, where all it means is they can't sue you for doing it. They can still void your warranty, and they don't have to do anything to accomodate it.

[SixthAngel]

This isn't going to change anything, really. I see it being like the special exemption the US made in the DMCA that made it legal to jailbreak your phone, where all it means is they can't sue you for doing it. They can still void your warranty, and they don't have to do anything to accomodate it.

It seems to me like it could be big.  This could lead to actual digital resale online.  It seems Steam doesn't need to let someone else download the game but you can now give them your license for it which should let them play the game you give them legally after they crack it out of steam.   Games may not even need to be cracked because services like Steam may have to recognize your license now that it is perfectly legal.  Considering that this is all digital it could mean buying old copies of games for pennies with no middleman or mail and not having to wait for a sale.