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The Basics of EULAs

Posted by michael on from the read-before-you-click dept.

Garthilk writes "Blizzard recently made a bit of press when they announced that they would be actively enforcing their End User License agreement and prohibit the third party sale of game items and characters. Many people don't believe these clickthrough EULAs to be enforceable contracts. Thankfully Don Shelkey from the Corporate Finance and Technology section of the law firm Buchanan Ingersoll stops by to give us the low down. Mind you he is speaking on his own behalf and not on behalf any of his clients."

9 of 522 comments (clear)

  1. Re:1st rule by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Such a comment kind of reminds me of this quote:

    http://www.bash.org/?6107

  2. Re:1st rule by ginbot462 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I thought the first rule of the EULA was not to talk about the EULA (so there IS a rule /. obeys).

    --
    Atlas Shrugged : Thematic Story :: Battlefield Earth : Organized Religion
  3. Reasonable? by It+doesn't+come+easy · · Score: 5, Funny
    Companies that use EULAs must make sure they are "reasonable."

    Examples of typical EULA language (paraphrased):
    "We can install anything we like on your computer"
    "We don't guarantee the program will even run, much less do what we said it will do."
    "We are not liable for anything, even if our software makes your company's profits implode"
    "We can collect any data we want and sell it for a profit"
    "We will charge you to fix any problem found in our software, assuming we choose to fix the problem."

    Sound's reasonable to me...

    --
    The NSA: The only part of the US government that actually listens.
  4. Re:An EULA is no real contract in Germany by It+doesn't+come+easy · · Score: 1, Funny

    I agree with you in principle, however, it's going to be hard to convince a court that your cat stepped on the "I agree" button 478 times last month...

    --
    The NSA: The only part of the US government that actually listens.
  5. EULA gets the award of.. by British · · Score: 3, Funny

    ....the most impersonal form of communication ever to have been devised by mankind. It doesn't talk to you, it barks at you.

  6. Re:The bottom line by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I will believe that FAs can be read as soon as the first FA is read, but not sooner.

  7. Re:Too bad for Blizzard by Ayaress · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wow, so that's why EQ2 is losing players already and WoW is growing faster than a - oh, whoops, misread your post.

  8. As long as it's still ok to outsource by elhondo · · Score: 2, Funny

    I've saved tons of money and time by having my online gaming done via a third party in a foreign country.

  9. Re:An EULA is no real contract in Germany by Flyboy+Connor · · Score: 4, Funny
    maybe my cat stepped over the keyboard while I was out of the room

    I usually do that. I drop the cat next to the keyboard and walk out, then come in again after a few minutes. About half the time, the cat has hit enough keys so that the game is started past the EULA. The other times, I usually have to restart the computer. Though there was this one time when the cat had closed the game, open up my word-processor, and had typed in the first scene of Hamlet.