Law Firm Considers Class Action Suit Over Xbox Live Bans

[Andy Chalk]

Law Firm Considers Class Action Suit Over Xbox Live Bans

A law firm in the U.S. is looking for Xbox Live [http://www.xbox.com/en-US/LIVE/] users interested in joining a class action lawsuit against Microsoft in response to the company's decision to ban as many as a million users from the service for having modified consoles.

The Abington IP, a "boutique law firm specializing in patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and consumer class actions," is seeking Xbox Live customers who were caught in Microsoft's Modern Warfare 2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/96037-Microsoft-Bans-up-to-One-Million-Xbox-Live-Accounts].

"Although modification of Xbox consoles is *arguably* against the terms of use for Xbox/Xbox Live, Microsoft 'conveniently' timed the Xbox console ban to coincide with the release of the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game and less than two months after the release of the very popular Halo 3: ODST game. This 'convenient' timing may have resulted in more Xbox Live subscription revenues for Microsoft than it would have generated had these Xbox console bans taken place at some time before the release of Halo 3: ODST and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," the firm said. "Additionally, sales of both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (published by Microsoft Game Studios [http://www.activision.com]) would likely have been greatly diminished had the Xbox console ban occurred prior to the release of these games."

I'm no fan of lawsuits but I have to admit that the point about the timing is interesting. Did Xbox Live Class Action Investigation page [http://www.microsoft.com].

Source: IncGamers [http://www.incgamers.com/News/19698/banned-xbox-live-users-class-action-investigation]


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[Doug]

I'm no fan of lawsuits but I have to admit that the point about the timing is interesting. Did Xbox Live Class Action Investigation page [http://www.microsoft.com].

And....? Legally, does it matter? The customers were still in breach of the terms of service, and Microsoft had the right to check for the modded consoles every year, month, week, day, second, if they wanted. So long as the terms of service doesn't say when the scans for illegal boxes will occur, they should be in the clear.

 

[Eldarion]

Cheaters got tricked out of their money and banned. They deserved it.

 

[Trivun]

They have no chance. Seriously, if it's not true then they'll fail of course, due to lack of evidence, and if it is true they'll have a hell of a time trying to prove it. Anyway, surely no laws have been broken here? It can't be wrong for Microsoft to choose their own time and terms for an action that is covered and allowed by their own user agreement, which all Xbox owners agree to when they buy the console... can it?

 

[elvor0]

Oh shoo, Microsoft will crush them, play by the rules and you wont get banned. They agreed to the EULA, so what exactly is their case?

 

[PsiMatrix]

Pfft, convenient timing indeed. If it wasn't MW2 or ODST then it would've been 'conveniently' after some other game on the release list.

Also; I don't find it 'arguably' that it's against the terms. It IS against the terms and conditions, both console and Live sub. There's a whole chapter on not modifying content or hardware.

 

[Starke]

Even if the bannings weren't against the terms of XBox live, isn't modding your console like this a violation of the DMCA? And wouldn't the class members be exposing themselves to criminal liability for participating?

 

[Distorted Stu]

Microsoft will never lose a law case. Also, you mod you need to be banned. I have a friend who recently got banned for a modded xbox console.

 

[Jack and Calumon]

Wow, whats with everyone being so whiny about being banned nowadays?

And by the way, those 360 people had whats coming to them.

 

[Quadtrix]

I see nothing wrong with timing the bans the way they did, and it would be pretty retarded for such an action to be illegal. Any company would have done the same.

 

[Jak The Great]

Honestly when it comes down to it, they violated the terms. They waited before these releases because that's when it's the most likely time that people with modded consoles would be using them. MS doesn't need to announce by law when they are going to issue the Banhammer. I feel no pitty for anyone who got banned because of this.

 

[GodsAndFishes]

And wouldn't the class members be exposing themselves to criminal liability for participating?

Microsoft is more cunning than we realise.
ITS A TRAP!!

 

[Bat Vader]

They took their chances with modding their consoles and the consequences came back to them. They have no one to blame but themselves.

 

[Doug]

They have no chance. Seriously, if it's not true then they'll fail of course, due to lack of evidence, and if it is true they'll have a hell of a time trying to prove it. Anyway, surely no laws have been broken here? It can't be wrong for Microsoft to choose their own time and terms for an action that is covered and allowed by their own user agreement, which all Xbox owners agree to when they buy the console... can it?

No, no, they agree to the EULA when they buy XBox live! I personally think that game EULAs shouldn't stand at the moment because if you disagree with an EULA from a game you bought at a physical shop, you can't return it.

 

[EMFCRACKSHOT]

Seems to me, these people got exactly what they deserved. They can hardly com;lain as they were the ones breaking the rules.

 

[Sporky111]

"Although modification of Xbox consoles is *arguably* against the terms of use for Xbox/Xbox Live, Microsoft 'conveniently' timed the Xbox console ban to coincide with the release of the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game and less than two months after the release of the very popular Halo 3: ODST game. This 'convenient' timing may have resulted in more Xbox Live subscription revenues for Microsoft than it would have generated had these Xbox console bans taken place at some time before the release of Halo 3: ODST and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," the firm said. "Additionally, sales of both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (published by Microsoft Game Studios [http://www.activision.com]) would likely have been greatly diminished had the Xbox console ban occurred prior to the release of these games."

I call bullshit on this. If I've read other news correctly, Microsoft has been doing these sweeps around the same time every year. It has nothing to do with the release of these games, its just a sleazy law firm trying to make a quick buck.

I don't think they have a legal leg to stand on:
1. It's against the Xbox Live terms to modify your console
2. These are "annual sweeps", occurring every year at the same time
3. It was the gamers' own fault for playing with modded consoles, and it was at their own risk that they bought an Xbox Live subscription

 

[Paragon Fury]

The lawsuit fails to consider the fact that MS may have waited for the release of these two games to cement their evidence before banning people.

Its a simple plan: you wait for a couple big releases to arrive, watch what happens, and then BAM! blindside the little POSs when they tip their hands.

 

[mokes310]

..."were not refunded a prorated sum for the time left on [their] subscription or have experienced other problems as a result of being banned"...

That might be their only legitimate argument.

 

[cathou]

were not refunded a prorated sum for the time left on [their] subscription

ok, but their Xbox live account is not banned, only their Xbox is. if they buy a new xbox and swap hard drive, they will get their xbox live account back and active.

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.

considering that most of them were banned because they had a pirated copy of MW2 or Halo 3 ODST, and that a lot of the banned console will be remplaced by their owner, the sales would had been the same...

 

[squid5580]

Do the words non-refundable not mean anything? And honestly does MS really save any money if there is less people using thier service? Are thier servers still not up and running regardless if those 600 000 people have gold accounts or not? So why not try and catch as many as possible at once instead of catching them a few at a time? Giving them a chance to hide.