Bethesda Blocks Resale of Used Game

Megalith

Megalith

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Bethesda has threatened to sue Amazon Marketplace seller Ryan Hupp for selling a sealed copy of The Evil Within 2. While the resale of used, unaltered copyrighted goods is generally protected by US law, the company’s lawyers argued it didn’t apply here, as the game lacked a warranty and was therefore “materially different from genuine products.”

Bethesda’s legal firm Vorys sent Hupp a letter, which he forwarded to Polygon, warning that the game must be taken down and threatening legal action for non-compliance. In its letter, Vorys made the argument that Hupp’s sale was not “by an authorized reseller,” and was therefore “unlawful.” Bethesda also took issue with Hupp’s use of the word “new” in selling the unwrapped game, claiming that this constituted “false advertising.”
 
this will backfire on Bethesda big time watch their sales drop......
 
Aren't greedy people great!! Greedy corporations are even better!!

I love the path humanity is taking and I would like to thank the sad population for our new end game.

Go Bethesda!!!
 
I like it, maybe this is a step towards stopping scalpers from buying stuff ro sell at a profit like collectors editions..
 
Um, this is Zenimax....is there anything they do NOT do to piss off the community? Sue VR creators after-the-fact, demonize the mod community that made their games playable and pretty by introducing paid-mods, and they continue to rehash their same, tired engine because they have absolutely no financial reason not to: They know people are going to buy this shit. I would absolutely believe they'd be the company to start suing trying to stop people from selling used games :D
 
So wait is it a used console copy or PC copy? Because if was a console version then Bethesda can go fuck themselves.
 
Do you want to sell me Doom Eternal? Cause this is how you end up not selling me Doom Eternal. Fuck with the community, they vote with their wallets.
 
Tactlesss said:
So wait is it a used console copy or PC copy? Because if was a console version then Bethesda can go fuck themselves.
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Looks like a PS4 copy.

He bought the game but never unwrapped it, he told us. He’d been expecting to purchase a PlayStation 4, but instead spent his money upgrading a gaming PC.
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I can understand a publisher taking issue with marketplace sellers listing items as "new" when they may not be in original condition, as they want to protect their brand, and don't want people to get the wrong impression of what their new products are actually like. But this seems like an overly heavy-handed method if that's the case. They requested him to remove not just this listing, but any other listing of any Bethesda product. That's just spiteful and simply pointless. What are they trying to gain from this other than negative press? How could this possibly be good for anyone?
 
Well if they are going this hard for a "used" copy of the evil within 2 then it makes me wonder if Zenimax is scared that Fallout 76 will be a clunker.
 
Hahah, Bethesda! Buying my game keys from a third party reseller now. Suck it!

P.S. Probably why Fallout 76 isn't being sold on Steam as Steam allows refunds.
 
Crazy that Bethesda is overreaching this far, and I feel the tentacles of ZeniMax and their swarms of lawyers hard at work on this one. This isn't a game key, account, or other license, this is a physical item with a UPC, sealed in the original packaging. "Shrink-wrap EULAs" have already been found to be BS, now you just have to look at a game's packaging for it to constitute acceptance of their terms and conditions? Up with this we will not put!
 
Yeah. I'd like to see that go to court as reason of a warranty blocks the sale of a used piece of software and voids the first sale doctrine.

So lame bethesda.
 
CrazyRob said:
I can understand a publisher taking issue with marketplace sellers listing items as "new" when they may not be in original condition, as they want to protect their brand, and don't want people to get the wrong impression of what their new products are actually like. But this seems like an overly heavy-handed method if that's the case. They requested him to remove not just this listing, but any other listing of any Bethesda product. That's just spiteful and simply pointless. What are they trying to gain from this other than negative press? How could this possibly be good for anyone?
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It sucks when a game that people enjoy is made by a company that people generally despise :)

That lawfirm, btw, seems to advertise that as its bread-and-butter..helping companies crack-down on resales or First Seller laws.

But Bethesda has not yet challend the NerdVerse...and it's armies are Vast. Vaaaaast....
 
RogueTrip said:
Yeah. I'd like to see that go to court as reason of a warranty blocks the sale of a used piece of software and voids the first sale doctrine.

So lame bethesda.
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Bethesda's attorneys are completely full of shit IMO (as a patent and copyright attorney since 1998). Most judges that I've dealt with in Federal court would slap them back to last Tuesday for arguments that frivolous that completely lack legal authority.
 
I don't think Bethesda has any legal power to interfere with game resales including whether they're listed as "new" or "used". Bethesda simply doesn't have any such policing power.

The US Supreme Court has ruled that people may resell their copyrighted goods without needing any permission from the copyright holder - period: Supreme Court Boosts Right To Resell Copyrighted Goods

The Supreme Court ruled that buyers of foreign copyrighted works may resell them in the United States without the copyright holder's permission, a 6-3 decision Tuesday affirming the "first sale" doctrine of federal copyright law.

The decision (.pdf) by Justice Stephen Breyer was a major endorsement of the right of a purchaser of legitimate copyright-protected works to resell or use the work without the copyright holder's permission.
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For Bethesda to say that people may not sell their games as "new", that would be requiring a permission from the copyright-holder to do so, and so is invalidated by the US Supreme Court's ruling.


Bethesda is no stranger to unscrupulous practices and lawsuits, just as they are no stranger to losing the lawsuits they file against other people and developers.
 
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if EA or Steam or whoever suddenly claimed bankruptcy and then closed shop, what would happen to millions of PC gamer's games?
 
And this is why streaming games from "the cloud" is the future of computing. We're basically going to be time travelling back to the 1970s when your access to computers was via dumb terminals.

Companies will give some sort of reasoning such that they can provide bleeding edge PC performance for a minimal cost, but the bottom line is you'll no longer have any ownership of your games. You'll be renting time to play video games. And when you're done, that's money you'll never be able to get back. And since there is no real product, you can't return time.
 
Nytegard said:
And this is why streaming games from "the cloud" is the future of computing. We're basically going to be time travelling back to the 1970s when your access to computers was via dumb terminals.

Companies will give some sort of reasoning such that they can provide bleeding edge PC performance for a minimal cost, but the bottom line is you'll no longer have any ownership of your games. You'll be renting time to play video games. And when you're done, that's money you'll never be able to get back. And since there is no real product, you can't return time.
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An that's when I'll stop spending money on computer games. I'm getting too old to really enjoy them as much as I used to, so this won't be much of a loss.
Already see this with phone games. I have never paid for any apps/games on my android phone. The few games I play are free, and I just ignore the in-app purchases and ads.


Maybe I'm just old, but I've always prefer to own, not rent.

I've never leased a car, or even rented a place to live.
I bought a condo when I moved out of my parents house after college. I knew once I started paying rent, I would never be able save enough for a down payment.
Actually, I paid my parents rent the last year I lived at home because I was no longer going to school, and was just working. Wasn't much, just enough to cover food and utilities.
 
Nytegard said:
Companies will give some sort of reasoning such that they can provide bleeding edge PC performance for a minimal cost, but the bottom line is you'll no longer have any ownership of your games.
Click to expand...

The real bottom line is you won't own anything. You'll rent your living quarters, rely on self-driving taxi services for transport, stream your entertainment, subscribe to the software you need. Clothing-as-a-Service, Food-as-a-Service, sure, why not?

Eventually the 1% will own 100%, and the 99% will work for them to earn their monthly fees.
The end-game business model is LaaS: Life-as-a-Service.
 
Megalith said:
Bethesda’s legal firm Vorys sent Hupp a letter, which he forwarded to Polygon, warning that the game must be taken down and threatening legal action for non-compliance. In its letter, Vorys made the argument that Hupp’s sale was not “by an authorized reseller,” and was therefore “unlawful.” Bethesda also took issue with Hupp’s use of the word “new” in selling the unwrapped game, claiming that this constituted “false advertising.”
Click to expand...

A judge I worked for once told me the average IQ for attorneys was 80.
And that's the average.

Note that the average IQ in the population is 100, and that an IQ of 70 is considered Mild Mental Retardation.
 
pcgeekesq said:
A judge I worked for once told me the average IQ for attorneys was 80.
And that's the average.

Note that the average IQ in the population is 100, and that an IQ of 70 is considered Mild Mental Retardation.
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Was he an attorney at some point? :)
 
I can see where Bethesda is coming from with this and as someone who has been stung by buying a stolen phone which was advertised as "new"

For all Bethesda knows the game could of been stolen or repackaged but on the otherhand this happens all the time especially on ebay and with other importers so they are going to really struggle to fight it.
 
Wow trying to resell an unopened, shrink wrapped game is getting this much hate. Crazy. Go ahead and open it and sell it as "used" I guess. Or go to Gamestop and get your $2.
 
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