With many copy protection failures prior to official game releases and the leak of Half-Life 2's source code over a year before its launch, Valve put an awful lot of work into anti-piracy measures in Half-Life 2 and its side effects have been pestering even legitimate buyers since its launch. The main problem in many cases has been upset users trying to get connected to Steam's servers to just even play the game. Now The Inquirer reports on how Valve's End User License Agreement is probably even illegal in many cases as a result of how it enforces its anti-piracy measures.
While there is no mention of requiring Steam to play the game in the EULA, it is in fact mandatory. Next, if someone or some hacker has comprised the CD-Key on a copy of the game before it is sold, then the unsuspecting user who ends up with this copy will need to wait up to two weeks to get a replacement. If the user is unable to connect to play the game and shops will not give refunds for opened software packages due to piracy risks, then there is a legal issue here since the actual box description turns out misleading (game does not do what it says on the box).
Finally if someone wishes to sell or give their game to someone else, they must pay Valve $10 to transfer the CD-Key. According to the Half-Life 2 EULA, there is no mention of a transfer charge let alone a mention of steam software. This means that the Steam EULA is not tied in with the Half-Life 2 EULA, so while Steam software may mandate a $10 transfer fee, it is actually not valid for Half-Life 2. So far The German Consumer Association has ordered Vivendi to amend the game packaging and separate Steam from Half Life-2 as a result of misleading packaging.
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More interesting, perhaps, are the legal agreements that surround a purchase of Half-Life 2. One is that no mention of Steam is on the HL2 box or in the End User License Agreement, yet it is required to play. The second is that where a gamer buys a copy of the game for which the CDKey has already been hacked, he will have to wait up to two weeks to get a replacement from Sierra/Vivendi, since shops will generally not take back opened software. The third is that no copy of the game can be sold without paying Valve a $10 fee to transfer the CD-Key to another Steam account. So, a number of problems with tricky solutions. A big thanks to the numerous INQ readers that contributed information and advice to help us wade through the statutes of m'learned fiends. Disclaimer: I have studied law, but am not a lawyer. This isn't legal advice, just for your reading pleasure. Read the full Inquirer story here. |
This is just an example of what happens with copy protection measures goes a bit too far without the software maker taking precautionary measures to avoid side effects. It will be interesting to see if any Consumer Association related groups from other countries take any notice to these potential legal issues with Half-Life 2's packaging and EULA.
Feel free to discuss and find out more about copy protection measures on our Copy Protection Discussion Forum.
Source: The Inquirer
