It went the same way as consideration, decency and respect for your fellow man.
As has been reported widely in the media, tens of thousands of Xbox owners have had their modified Xbox consoles banned from Microsoft's online gaming service Xbox Live. Although modification of Xbox consoles is against the terms of use for Xbox/Xbox Live...
See this? This right here? This is where the judge who gets the easiest hearing of that particular day tells you to get the FUCK out.
From Abington IP's site:
Intellectual property is often the most valuable of all assets owned by individuals and businesses. For example, the top 10 valued global brands for 2008 were: Coca-Cola ($66.7 Billion), IBM ($59.0 Billion), Microsoft ($59.0 Billion)....
Aggressive intellectual property protection is important to the continued value of these brands.
In context, this literally had me laughing out loud for several minutes. Lionel Hutz must be the lead attorney in this case.
They're leaning on simply the fact that Microsoft "conveniently" enforced that after MW2 released and soaking up as much subscription before bans. Thats the only leg modders have to stand on but the fact is simple...
Why would you try to sue someone that provides you the very tools you steal from? And this goes to the countless hours and money invested into game development and all because you had your account banned and want subscription money back for the remaining period?
This is like a shoplifter who got arrested for shoplifting and is trying to file a lawsuit against the arresting officer for excessive force and language. Doesn't even matter, they stole in the first place.
*shrug* I don't it's just me... but
Won't speaking out for the illegal actions one has taken to the courts, put you in considerate consequences of arrest? and jail time?
Exactly CrazyMatt. It's like admitting to breaking the law. Sure it's not like murder but software piracy isn't taking too lightly in these circumstances and my guess if you are trying to sue Microsoft because of it they will drop more then the ban hammer on ya.
I think they should gather all these guys and gals up document all the shit they had/have give them the refund of what is left on their live subscription. What 10-30 bucks for each person and then sue them for the max amount of each title they pirated.
So here you go Johnny. Here is your xbox live refund and now here is your paperwork and court date as we are suing you for the 20 pirated titles that were on your console.
^
I would love it if they did that! That would make my week, month, hell year!
kaburan, fixed your line.
"This is like a shoplifter who gets arrested for shoplifting and try's to file a lawsuit against the arresting officer for the gas money to get to the store that he shoplifted from."
This is like a shoplifter who got arrested for shoplifting and is trying to file a lawsuit against the arresting officer for excessive force and language. Doesn't even matter, they stole in the first place.
but they do this all the time, and more often then not they are successfull:poly127:
as unbeleivably stupid as this lawsuit is, think about just how many of these stupid lawsuits pop-up. if they actually were thrown out of court, or counter-sued or whatever, we wouldn't have another one pop-up every 2 minutes.
This is all going to depend on how clever the Law firm is as there are a number of side cases in recent months that have questioned the validity of the EULA. So, they may not go straight at MS but instead argue the EULA angle. Or even 'property rights' - ownership of the Xbox, you can do what ever you want to it because you bought it. Or even 'licensed technology use', what are you actually paying for. They're points that aren't quite as flippant as one might first think.
Well Kat in the terms of use and book you get with the 360 it says you are not allowed to modify the hardware, reverse engineer, hack, mod in any way as this is a violation or the terms of use, service agreement what have you.
Microsoft has a right to protect it's ips and hardware and by punishing known modders and pirates I think it's a good step. Piracy hurts the game industry and I hope that any judge this comes across will just tell these idiots to get out before he locks them all up for piracy.
If you want to hack a console and use modded tools and pirated games then don't go on live. Simple as that. Don't play pirated stuff online. You will get caught eventually and you don't have anyone else to blame. I mean seriously. Why is there even questions with this?
Another example.
Say I own a shotgun. Not illegal and I use it to go bird hunting and target practice. Cool I'm good to go. NOW say I take same said shotgun and saw off the barrel down to a very short knub. Then it becomes illegal and I can be arrested and fined for it.
Sure you can say its a gun and it will kill people and this is just video games but the whole point is you aren't supposed to do it and if you do and get caught you only have yourself to blame.
Things like this make me cry at the state of our corrupt and idiotic culture. I am going to go to sleep, hopefully things will be better in the morning....
I bet it isn't just the subscription money that they want back. I'm guessing if they're getting a load of pirated games with a modded console, they'll probably have a lot of achievements. But still this is a load of BS.
That's the thing, their Live accounts weren't banned, their modded consoles were banned from connecting to Live is all. They can all go buy a new, unmodded 360 and continue to use their Live accounts, so they really don't have a leg to stand on
Then it would enable those consoles to play pirated games through live again... smells like failure to me.
I guess they aren't banned they are just using unsupported hardware. I wonder if these mod chipped versions are going to end up in trade in bins and cause issues for resale... Oh that would be awesome.
I also would have liked to be the guy behind writing the "error message" they would see.
...Microsoft has a right to protect it's ips and hardware and by punishing known modders and pirates I think it's a good step. Piracy hurts the game industry and I hope that any judge this comes across will just tell these idiots to get out before he locks them all up for piracy...
I'm not saying piracy is good and raising the Jolly Rodger, I'm asking a serious question about what consumers actually own when they buy something and what 'rights' that confers on them as a result.
This is how muddy the waters get.
Federal officials in the USA are 'modding' old PS3 consoles to crack criminals passwords which raises the genuine question of "what's the difference" in relation to the EULA, all this XBox kerfuffle and "using something for which it wasn't intended". Modding is Modding right?
well, don't the banned 360s still work? There's nothing stopping people from repurposing them like the feds are doing with the PS3 consoles. I'm actually interested in grabbing up a banned xbox, I've heard they are going for $40 on craigslist.
well, don't the banned 360s still work? There's nothing stopping people from repurposing them like the feds are doing with the PS3 consoles. I'm actually interested in grabbing up a banned xbox, I've heard they are going for $40 on craigslist.
40$? As far as I understand single player games should work without any problems?
I was never interested in Live to be honest. Like hell I'm going to pay for a "privilege" of playing on listen servers. But there are few of X360 exclusives that I would like to play and 40$ - Banjo Kazooie, Fable II, Tales of Vesperia...and that's it I guess :P I couldn't justify the price before - I strongly disliked most shooters I have played this gen. But 40$ sounds like a deal.
On the topic: Actually, I would like to see them get somewhere with this suit. I couldn't care less whether Microsoft looses it or wins, but the sheer amount of giggles would certainly put some colours into my sad, sad life.
"Additionally, sales of both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (published by Activision) and Halo 3: ODST (published by Microsoft Game Studios) would likely have been greatly diminished had the Xbox console ban occurred prior to the release of these games."
ummm... didnt they get banned cause they were using bootlegged copies? meaning they didnt pay for it anyways? so the sales really wouldnt have been effected...
though, getting more xbox live subscriptions because of those games. id like to see numbers on that one. see how many subscribed just because of those games and didnt actually have one before
ummm... didnt they get banned cause they were using bootlegged copies? meaning they didnt pay for it anyways? so the sales really wouldnt have been effected...
Replies
Boy, that lawfirm is drastic.
Seconded. What a bunch of tools.
"We ripped you off, you punished us for it, now we're gonna complain!"
It went the same way as consideration, decency and respect for your fellow man.
See this? This right here? This is where the judge who gets the easiest hearing of that particular day tells you to get the FUCK out.
From Abington IP's site:
In context, this literally had me laughing out loud for several minutes. Lionel Hutz must be the lead attorney in this case.
What they failed to mention is, Microsoft initiated the bans long before dozens of potentially successful game releases. Or some shit. I like cheese.
Why would you try to sue someone that provides you the very tools you steal from? And this goes to the countless hours and money invested into game development and all because you had your account banned and want subscription money back for the remaining period?
This is like a shoplifter who got arrested for shoplifting and is trying to file a lawsuit against the arresting officer for excessive force and language. Doesn't even matter, they stole in the first place.
Won't speaking out for the illegal actions one has taken to the courts, put you in considerate consequences of arrest? and jail time?
I think they should gather all these guys and gals up document all the shit they had/have give them the refund of what is left on their live subscription. What 10-30 bucks for each person and then sue them for the max amount of each title they pirated.
So here you go Johnny. Here is your xbox live refund and now here is your paperwork and court date as we are suing you for the 20 pirated titles that were on your console.
Thanks for doing business.
I would love it if they did that! That would make my week, month, hell year!
kaburan, fixed your line.
"This is like a shoplifter who gets arrested for shoplifting and try's to file a lawsuit against the arresting officer for the gas money to get to the store that he shoplifted from."
MS should counter-sue for wasting their time with this silliness. ><
but they do this all the time, and more often then not they are successfull:poly127:
as unbeleivably stupid as this lawsuit is, think about just how many of these stupid lawsuits pop-up. if they actually were thrown out of court, or counter-sued or whatever, we wouldn't have another one pop-up every 2 minutes.
Microsoft has a right to protect it's ips and hardware and by punishing known modders and pirates I think it's a good step. Piracy hurts the game industry and I hope that any judge this comes across will just tell these idiots to get out before he locks them all up for piracy.
If you want to hack a console and use modded tools and pirated games then don't go on live. Simple as that. Don't play pirated stuff online. You will get caught eventually and you don't have anyone else to blame. I mean seriously. Why is there even questions with this?
Another example.
Say I own a shotgun. Not illegal and I use it to go bird hunting and target practice. Cool I'm good to go. NOW say I take same said shotgun and saw off the barrel down to a very short knub. Then it becomes illegal and I can be arrested and fined for it.
Sure you can say its a gun and it will kill people and this is just video games but the whole point is you aren't supposed to do it and if you do and get caught you only have yourself to blame.
That's the thing, their Live accounts weren't banned, their modded consoles were banned from connecting to Live is all. They can all go buy a new, unmodded 360 and continue to use their Live accounts, so they really don't have a leg to stand on
I guess they aren't banned they are just using unsupported hardware. I wonder if these mod chipped versions are going to end up in trade in bins and cause issues for resale... Oh that would be awesome.
I also would have liked to be the guy behind writing the "error message" they would see.
no.
This is how muddy the waters get.
Federal officials in the USA are 'modding' old PS3 consoles to crack criminals passwords which raises the genuine question of "what's the difference" in relation to the EULA, all this XBox kerfuffle and "using something for which it wasn't intended". Modding is Modding right?
40$? As far as I understand single player games should work without any problems?
I was never interested in Live to be honest. Like hell I'm going to pay for a "privilege" of playing on listen servers. But there are few of X360 exclusives that I would like to play and 40$ - Banjo Kazooie, Fable II, Tales of Vesperia...and that's it I guess :P I couldn't justify the price before - I strongly disliked most shooters I have played this gen. But 40$ sounds like a deal.
On the topic: Actually, I would like to see them get somewhere with this suit. I couldn't care less whether Microsoft looses it or wins, but the sheer amount of giggles would certainly put some colours into my sad, sad life.
ummm... didnt they get banned cause they were using bootlegged copies? meaning they didnt pay for it anyways? so the sales really wouldnt have been effected...
though, getting more xbox live subscriptions because of those games. id like to see numbers on that one. see how many subscribed just because of those games and didnt actually have one before
That is what I thought...