New Steam Agreement Now Says You Can't Sue Valve

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sacre

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The system is screwed up badly.

How about this, you show us the EULA before we buy the game. So now, if I disagree with your EULA, I can just put the game back onto the shelf instead of being unable to return the game because I opened it, and nearly installed it.

Don't make me buy the game THEN ask me to agree to its terms.

This really pisses me off.
 

s3anister

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Valve has joined Sony and Microsoft, saying that Steam users can't sue the company if they want to use the service.
Are we ever going to see the U.S. government step in on this? It's ridiculous that a corporation is able to do this. Take an auto manufacturer for example, if the car you drive is defective (Firestone and Ford, anyone?) you can sue them to hopefully fix the problem if there is one. What good is it to have a legal system if you can't use it to the fullest extent?
 

zshift

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That title is a blatant lie. Valve allows you to SUE them in small claims courts. It's mentioned in your article, and as per the Valve post, "...we've outlined a new required process whereby we agree to use arbitration or small claims court to resolve the dispute." Stop hyping your titles to bring in traffic, and go back to presenting honest journalism.
 

Inferno1217

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I don't see how this would ever hold up in court. As sacre said you can't return the item once opened and you have to open it or purchase it online before agreeing to the EULA. Also if putting a "no sue" clause in a contract worked every time, every company would have done this long ago. I think it's a scare tactic but little do they realize in all their greed, they are shooting themselves in the foot.
 
[citation][nom]s3anister[/nom]Are we ever going to see the U.S. government step in on this? It's ridiculous that a corporation is able to do this. Take an auto manufacturer for example, if the car you drive is defective (Firestone and Ford, anyone?) you can sue them to hopefully fix the problem if there is one. What good is it to have a legal system if you can't use it to the fullest extent?[/citation]

Contracts aren't law. Companies often put whatever they think that they can get away with in service contracts but whether or not they get away with it is for a court to decide. If a court decides that the right to seek redress for grievances cannot be signed away like that then that's just too bad for valve/microsoft/sony
 

jerm1027

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I don't think this is actually going to stop anyone from filing a class action lawsuit if Valve fucks up. Seriously, it's like telling an officer they can't arrest them. I wonder if it's possible to sue over the anti-suing clause in the EULA.
 

ikyung

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[citation][nom]s3anister[/nom]Are we ever going to see the U.S. government step in on this? It's ridiculous that a corporation is able to do this. Take an auto manufacturer for example, if the car you drive is defective (Firestone and Ford, anyone?) you can sue them to hopefully fix the problem if there is one. What good is it to have a legal system if you can't use it to the fullest extent?[/citation]
You obviously have no idea how the legal system works... just because Valve says you can't sue us, doesn't mean you can't sue them. You have the right to sue anyone no matter what their user agreement says. If Valve truly screwed you, then take them to court. The judge will decide whether you should receive compensation or not. Not valve.
 

zeratul600

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can i have a maid and made her sign a contract that says that if she wants to work she wont sue me for rape or sexual harassment or for stealing from her??? oh america your legal system it's bringing you down!
 

A Bad Day

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[citation][nom]sacre[/nom]The system is screwed up badly.How about this, you show us the EULA before we buy the game. So now, if I disagree with your EULA, I can just put the game back onto the shelf instead of being unable to return the game because I opened it, and nearly installed it. Don't make me buy the game THEN ask me to agree to its terms.This really pisses me off.[/citation]

AND...

Write the EULA in ENGLISH. I can tolerate some lawyer writing, but no more than like 10 pages of it.
 

ozchoz

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Meanwhile in Australia, we don't generally sue companies we buy things from if we are unhappy, we just stop buying things from them.
 

tobalaz

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[citation][nom]zander1983[/nom]This is happening because people abuse the law. Companies are getting sick and tired of every John Doe trying to make money.[/citation]
No, the lawyers are abusing the law.
No one wins in a class action claim but the lawyers, they take millions from the companies and the victims get somewhere between 50 cents and five bucks when they were usually hosed well in excess of $50.
 
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Any contract that requires that you sign away ANY right is invalid. They have no legal leg to stand on, at least in the US.
 

rantoc

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Well considering they added terms it is likely possible to get a refund should you disagree to the new terms and don't have access to the software that got purchased under other terms!

Hmm 250 titles in my library... must not!
 

azathoth

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The chances that any of us will be directly effected by this, such as valves credit data being stolen + cracked (cough Sony) is slim to none.

However, the very principle of being forced to sign off our RIGHTS so we can use products we have already paid for is simply absurd.

It's just a dirty tactic... What am I going to do? Throw away $1000+ in video games?
 

memadmax

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BS, the EULA is a non-binding agreement for a number of reasons:
Did you sign it in writing?
IP addresses are the only thing close to putting you physically in the facility of an electronic agreement, but that too is sketchy at best because the courts threw out the IP is your ID arguement....

If you really want to know how legal this crap is go google Sony and OtherOS and hacking legal crap.

The whole EULA is just a scare tactic...
 
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Basically they r trying to force arbitration on every1 that is less expensive n is faster process.
You can still take them to small claims court but other then the principles at stake; your returns
may not justify it. They have tons of money so arbitration and small claims wont hurt them since
they r capped at limit. Class action mostly both party's lose with only lawyers getting rich. At worst
for them is the massive resources(depends on nature of the class action suite) they have to allocate
to defend themselves plus whatever judgement is passed if they were to lose. Best case for plaintiffs would b issued few credits for the trouble. Of course the credits would only b valid on their products. Rarely would actually money b credited back to plaintiffs.
 
I hate Steam because of their idiot one-account-one-license policy.

Me: "Hey, what if there's more than one person in my family that wants to start a game under his own account?"
Steam: "Buy another copy."
Me: "(anatomical improbability of a high order)"

So ... that's enough to make me wish they would just go away.
 
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