Video Game Market Uproar Following Euro Ruling!
European Court rules that you can sell your digitally downloaded games
"An author of software cannot oppose the resale of his ‘used’ licences allowing the use of his programs downloaded from the internet" reads the ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union in the case of 'UsedSoft GmbH v Oracle International Corp' today. That has large reprecussions for gamers too.
Beneath this headline in the information released about the ruling is the telling line: "The exclusive right of distribution of a copy of a computer program covered by such a licence is exhausted on its first sale."
That's right, as far as the EU is concerned, once you've bought a piece of software, it's yours to sell.
Key findings include:
"By its judgement delivered today, the Court explains that the principle of exhaustion of the distribution right applies not only where the copyright holder markets copies of his software on a material medium (CD-ROM or DVD) but also where he distributes them by means of downloads from his website."
And there's the thing. A game sold as digital download will fall under this ruling as, as far as the court is concerned, it's just software.
The ruling continues, "Where the copyright holder makes available to his customer a copy – tangible or intangible – and at the same time concludes, in return form payment of a fee, a licence agreement granting the customer the right to use that copy for an unlimited period, that rightholder sells the copy to the customer and thus exhausts his exclusive distribution right." A bit wordy, but the conclusion is that:
"Such a transaction involves a transfer of the right of ownership of the copy. Therefore, even if the licence agreement prohibits a further transfer, the rightholder can no longer oppose the resale of that copy. "
Bingo! We expect a massive return of fire in an appeal from the industry. We also expect DRM on past products and those in the pipeline to be lifted until after the appeal (we don't, we'd like to see it). Basically, we do not expect to see this ruling becoming full practice once the USA has had a quiet word.
Source: Court of Justice of the European Union (PDF).
Beneath this headline in the information released about the ruling is the telling line: "The exclusive right of distribution of a copy of a computer program covered by such a licence is exhausted on its first sale."
That's right, as far as the EU is concerned, once you've bought a piece of software, it's yours to sell.
Key findings include:
"By its judgement delivered today, the Court explains that the principle of exhaustion of the distribution right applies not only where the copyright holder markets copies of his software on a material medium (CD-ROM or DVD) but also where he distributes them by means of downloads from his website."
And there's the thing. A game sold as digital download will fall under this ruling as, as far as the court is concerned, it's just software.
The ruling continues, "Where the copyright holder makes available to his customer a copy – tangible or intangible – and at the same time concludes, in return form payment of a fee, a licence agreement granting the customer the right to use that copy for an unlimited period, that rightholder sells the copy to the customer and thus exhausts his exclusive distribution right." A bit wordy, but the conclusion is that:
"Such a transaction involves a transfer of the right of ownership of the copy. Therefore, even if the licence agreement prohibits a further transfer, the rightholder can no longer oppose the resale of that copy. "
Bingo! We expect a massive return of fire in an appeal from the industry. We also expect DRM on past products and those in the pipeline to be lifted until after the appeal (we don't, we'd like to see it). Basically, we do not expect to see this ruling becoming full practice once the USA has had a quiet word.
Source: Court of Justice of the European Union (PDF).