Valve sued in France - Customer rights

[Leonardo]

Reposted from BSF

 

So it seems VALVe got sued in France because the following are abusive and illegal in France's law.
 
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1158923

• Steam's Subscriber Agreement explicitely forbids users to sell their games, despite the transfer of ownership of digital products/licenses being legal
• Valve declines any responsibility in case they get hacked and users' personal info get stolen
• Valve claims ownership on the rights of any user-created content uploaded on Steam
• It is impossible to get the money on your Steam Wallet back if your account is closed/deleted/banned
• Valve applies Luxembourg's consumer law regardless of the user's country

So it looks like that law that passed in what 2012? In the European Union to allow people purchasing software digitally to be able to resell their digitally purchased software is being enforced.

 

Povuholo posted this about the new EU rules for digital games.

[Arthmoor]

Now all we need is for this to happen in the US

[Deathbydestiny]

Good they are being called out for all that. Gotta love the EU

[VaultDuke]

All valid complaints against steam's service. However, kotaku has a rundown why they think this campaign may not end up all that sucessfull unfortunately

http://steamed.kotaku.com/french-consumer-group-sues-valve-over-lack-of-steam-res-1748776561

[Nico coiN]

Wow, I honestly never read all these license agreements since they're so often updated.

 

• Valve declines any responsibility in case they get hacked and users' personal info get stolen

So, in case of severe security neglecting (like the past Sony case) they could just deny any responsibility on my credit card coordinates being stolen ? WTF !

• Valve claims ownership on the rights of any user-created content uploaded on Steam

A company claiming ownership on others free work is total bullshit IMO. And do they also claim responsibility & afford support for all the rotten Skyrim content that can damage your savegames ? That's why I never uploaded anything on Steam Workshop. But hey, in the end, does that mean Steam owns USLEEP and all your mods, Arthmoor ? 

 

'Fortunately' I live in France... (but I should also like to reassure you on the fact that I have other issues to complain about )

[Arthmoor]

Fortunately US copyright law says they can't assume ownership of the content without an actual transfer of copyright agreement. Since uploading to a site is not sufficient to meet that, it isn't an issue here. So no, they don't own USLEEP or the rest of my mods (or anyone else's either).

 

What's going on here is a classic example of the EULA saying a lot of stuff that's not legally enforceable, and someone finally calling them out for it.

[Leonardo]

Valve claims ownership on the rights of any user-created content uploaded on Steam

Regarding user-created content uploaded on Steam, I would like to point out that the copyright of any Skyrim mod(s) uploaded on Steam Workshop belongs to Bethesda Softworks regardless what Valve says in their account agreement.

[VaultDuke]

From my link above: "When it comes to user-created content, Valve actually claims a non-exclusive right to your stuff, so you can still post or reproduce it elsewhere. Given that user-created content is often made within games Valve or their publishing partners own, that actually doesn’t seem like a terrible deal—especially since Valve gives mod makers a cut of the profit if they end up selling said items. A handful of particularly successful creators are even able to make a living off it"

[Leonardo]

Given that user-created content is often made within games Valve or their publishing partners own, that actually doesn’t seem like a terrible deal—especially since Valve gives mod makers a cut of the profit if they end up selling said items. A handful of particularly successful creators are even able to make a living off it"

That doesn't applied for Skyrim since Bethesda removed the paid mods concept from Steam Workshop.