Xbox Owner Sues Microsoft for $500 Billion (Yes, Billion)

[artanis_neravar]

Ironically, he probably would have made more of a point and gotten a greater amount of support if he'd only made the claim for one dollar. If his actual goal were to prove a point and win a victory against Microsoft and EULA's, then making it over a dollar would've insulated him from the inevitable 'He's just looking for a payday!' response that's being kicked around in every other post here.

Technically, US Contract law is a very muddled mess. Verbal agreements and handshakes are considered legally binding in some states, I'd be curious to know Washington State's contract laws and how they operate, that could be the deciding factor as to whether or not he actually has a case, or if this is just a klutzy move that belongs on Reality TV.

Microsoft never entered into a verbal agreement, or handshake with him beyond their original EULA though

Just throwing out a 'for instance' on how convoluted and disturbing the laws can be.

Oh ok I see, I apologize then

Wish people would stop claiming "Trolololol" without thinking about it for a damn second. He's gone for an amount 6x bigger than the total assets of Microsoft. He's refusing to hand over evidence. Is it not clear he's trying to throw the case?

It'll set legal precedent. Stopping major companies from doing the exact same thing back to him is what he's aiming to do, but apparently some people are too blind to see that. Hopefully the Judge will see what he's doing, but I can't see that happening either.

... ... ...Every. Single. Thread.

Every single thread on the Escapist ends up having 'It'll set a legal precedent.' in it. Doesn't matter what the thread is about, that phrase ends up in it.

This will do nothing. He'll end up paying Microsoft's legal fees (If for SOME reason this manages to make it to court and the judge doesn't just laugh in his face and deny his claim for being retarded, which they can do) and that will be the end of the story.

Agreed, precedents are not set by throwing a court case, they are set by doing things right. Not to mention that Microsoft has never pulled anything like this.

I do love how people only see contracts as a way for the company to cheat them. Like those vonage commercials (A no contract phone service) people think "Oh well no contract means no hidden fees", and they don't realize "No contract means vonage can raise your rates every month and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it, in fact since you didn't sign a contract they might not be obligated to inform you of the change (not completely sure about that though)

 

[Kopikatsu]

His case is actually sorta air tight. I think the guy is a total douchebag and should really stop making an ass of himself, but it isn't like you can say he is in error.

Go for 1 million, not everything the company owns.

How is it airtight?

He said that if they don't respond, Microsoft owes him 500 billion. Not much to argue about with that. I don't approve of his actions but it isn't like you can find a fault with his logic there if you think about it from his prospective.

He sent in alterations he wanted to be made, and said that since they neither accepted not denied it, then they accepted it by default.

It doesn't work that way. If you don't accept a ToS, does it magically become accepted ten days later? 'Course not.

This guy has absolutely ZERO power in this situation. He doesn't provide the service in question, he's using it. By using it, he already agreed to the company's ToS. 'Entitled twat' doesn't even scratch the surface of this describing this kind of behavior.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Honestly, if this actually gets serious, Microsoft will probably just arrange an "accident" for this fellow.

 

[winter2]

Yea.. that guy is about to get reamed.

 

[jopomeister]

Some idiot abusing loopholes and all that. Annoying prick who should be wiped of the face of the planet, in my opinion.

 

[xXAsherahXx]

His case is actually sorta air tight. I think the guy is a total douchebag and should really stop making an ass of himself, but it isn't like you can say he is in error.

Go for 1 million, not everything the company owns.

How is it airtight?

He said that if they don't respond, Microsoft owes him 500 billion. Not much to argue about with that. I don't approve of his actions but it isn't like you can find a fault with his logic there if you think about it from his prospective.

He sent in alterations he wanted to be made, and said that since they neither accepted not denied it, then they accepted it by default.

It doesn't work that way. If you don't accept a ToS, does it magically become accepted ten days later? 'Course not.

This guy has absolutely ZERO power in this situation. He doesn't provide the service in question, he's using it. By using it, he already agreed to the company's ToS. 'Entitled twat' doesn't even scratch the surface of this describing this kind of behavior.

I agree obviously. I'm not a legal buff, but everyone knows this guy won't win. It's just that he tried to find a loop-hole, which he kinda did in a way, but not one that will get him anywhere. It's like he's the kid that tries to be smart by tricking you with semantics and formalities but just ends up looking like a dip shit in the end.

 

[Weslebear]

There is a difference between bending the rules and just being a straight up hustler any court this goes to will dismiss this instantly unless the judge is stricken down with a missing fucking chromosome that day.

 

[Legendsmith]

There was a kid in my percussion group that had asperger's, he loved to use it as a get out of jail free card. He was always acting like a little shit, giving everyone attitude, then would ***** and moan when we didn't treat him like a prince.

Based on my experience with a kid, I'm going to say he's just an asshole who thinks he is untouchable because of a handicap.

Obviously he's someone who lets his disability define who they are. I've a people with aspergers(it was unmistakeable) and they were all good people, with their own quirks.
However, one thing they hated were people who, like the kid you described, let their disability define them.
The answer you give those people is that there are people who have the same disability and don't act like little shits, so they don't have the excuse.

 

[artanis_neravar]

There is a difference between bending the rules and just being a straight up hustler any court this goes to will dismiss this instantly unless the judge is stricken down with a missing fucking chromosome that day.

No way, it's a lawsuit in the US. Surely they'll give him at least a few million.

You clearly underestimate the US's legal system. This guy isn't going to get anything, in fact he is going to end up paying microsoft

 

[jackpackage200]

Hey, sounds like a pretty good performance art sati-

Asperger's Syndrome

Never mind. He is completely serious and a huge asshole.

Or he's incredibly anti-social and tends to focus a great deal of interest into something. Sadly, that seems to be legal disputes here, but he's interpreting how to manipulate the court wrong.

There was a kid in my percussion group that had asperger's, he loved to use it as a get out of jail free card. He was always acting like a little shit, giving everyone attitude, then would ***** and moan when we didn't treat him like a prince.

Based on my experience with a kid, I'm going to say he's just an asshole who thinks he is untouchable because of a handicap.

I had a similar experience. Seriously if people keep doing this kind of shit then aspergers will become the next insanity plea. I mean there was a member of LULZSEC who tried to do it

 

[ischmalud]

hey say what u want but at least he got the balls to take on a rubbish company like microsoft at their own game - all the best may the law be with you - honestly id cheer if they ended up settling lets say for 1million or something like that

fight the power u crazy uber-nerd!!

 

[TheDutchin]

If this guy sees even 0.001% of that money, I will eat my own face.

0.001% of 500,000,000,000 is 500,000,000. or in other words, 500 million, rather than billion.

 

[artanis_neravar]

There was a kid in my percussion group that had asperger's, he loved to use it as a get out of jail free card. He was always acting like a little shit, giving everyone attitude, then would ***** and moan when we didn't treat him like a prince.

Based on my experience with a kid, I'm going to say he's just an asshole who thinks he is untouchable because of a handicap.

Obviously he's someone who lets his disability define who they are. I've a people with aspergers(it was unmistakeable) and they were all good people, with their own quirks.
However, one thing they hated were people who, like the kid you described, let their disability define them.
The answer you give those people is that there are people who have the same disability and don't act like little shits, so they don't have the excuse.

It's kind of like the women who uses their time of the month as an excuse to be a complete and utter uber *****. When in reality (at least with all the women I know) they still have control and sometimes slip up, but immediately apologize because they still recognize that they were overly mean.

Also I am not comparing Aspergers and a woman's period, I am comparing the people who uses them as an excuse to be a terrible person.

*cringes in anticipation of getting flamed*

 

[Rin Little]

I hate to admit this, but the guy's right. Corporations like that take advantage of people all the time. I know he's not going to win any money and honestly I don't think he should but it is getting his point across. Would probably get the point across better if he didn't seem like a troll but oh well.

 

[Imp_Emissary]

i'd love to see him win. it would be a victory for consumers who have to deal with this stupid bullshit.

Actually, for us to win he has to lose.

See if he wins and gets even a small amount of the money he's asked for then that means companies can keep legally doing that to us. Though, we could now do it to them possibly, but unbelievably unlikely.

However, if he loses that could mean whenever we get messed with by companies doing this with the terms of service, we could argue that we never read it and just agreed without looking, which is what Microsoft will probably argue here, meaning that if we get messed with we can say that we never read it all, and Microsoft (and other companies) can't say "Well that doesn't matter." because they will have said that and won!
If this goes that way, that is. Something else could happen. We'll see.

 

[artanis_neravar]

i'd love to see him win. it would be a victory for consumers who have to deal with this stupid bullshit.

Actually, for us to win he has to lose.

See if he wins and gets even a small amount of the money he's asked for then that means companies can keep legally doing that to us. Though, we could now do it to them possibly, but unbelievably unlikely.

However, if he loses that could mean whenever we get messed with by companies doing this with the terms of service, we could argue that we never read it and just agreed without looking, which is what Microsoft will probably argue here, meaning that if we get messed with we can say that we never read it all, and Microsoft (and other companies) can't say "Well that doesn't matter." because they will have said that and won!
If this goes that way, that is. Something else could happen. We'll see.

Accept they never agreed to anything at all, so nothing would really change

 

[Ziadaine_v1legacy]

If he wins this, I have officially lost faith in humanity as a whole. This isn't "teaching corporates a lesson for consumers", this is just a fucking idiot, trying to legally scam his way to insane wealth. Technically that whole "do not respond in 24hrs I win" thing is bullshit. Don't you have to first pass it through court and all that shit first for it to be legal? otherwise I could just walk into any shop and go "yeah you didn't respond, I own all this now"

 

[Imp_Emissary]

hey say what u want but at least he got the balls to take on a rubbish company like microsoft at their own game - all the best may the law be with you - honestly id cheer if they ended up settling lets say for 1million or something like that

fight the power u crazy uber-nerd!!

NO! No no no no no no!

For this all to work he has to get nothing!

If he gets money from them that means Microsoft and other companies like them can keep doing this crap!
However, if he loses that means they can't say that it doesn't matter if we didn't read the whole contract or terms of service because they didn't, and won!

 

[Imp_Emissary]

"Accept they never agreed to anything at all, so nothing would really change."

True, at first, but this could start up a foundation for a law to be made that does limit when a company can or can't force you to accept the terms of service if you didn't read it.

Yes, here all Microsoft had to do with the altered terms of service to have them become "legal" was never even look at them, but is that so much more than when we get a new terms of service for an update and click accept without really reading it?

However, this is all dependent on what the final legal statement is. It may not even make it that far. Hell, maybe he'll even be forced (or talked) into making a deal out of court.

 

[arealperson]

If this guy sees even 0.001% of that money, I will eat my own face.

0.001% of 500,000,000,000 is 500,000,000. or in other words, 500 million, rather than billion.

Redacted mathematics correction as other posters covered it - this is why you handle these things by private message ~_o

OT: He obviously isn't going about this in the right means, but I do somewhat support the spirit of his cause. Things like opting out of an auto-subscription being handled only by phone is quite the annoyance (when purchases are perfectly capable of being carried out on the system alone).