EULA Confusion w/ Used Copies of WoW?

egburr asks: "I just purchased a used retail box of World of Warcraft. After reading the EULA in the manual and the Terms of Use, I expected to be up and playing quickly. I soon ran into a problem. I haven't even installed the software yet, since the first thing I have to do is go online and create a user account and then subscribe to play. Simple enough? I thought so too, until I tried entering the Authentication Key found on the CD case. This produced an error that my key had already been used. Note that it says 'already been used,' not 'currently in use.'" Note that section 3B in the EULA explicitly grants its users the ability to transfer the physical property and "all of your rights and obligations under the License Agreement", presumably including the Authentication Key which is needed when creating a new account. What Blizzard expressly disallows is the transfer of accounts, according to Section 1E of their Terms of Use, which is not at issue here. Apparently, Blizzard is allowing each Authentication Key to be used only once, preventing anyone with a used copy of the game from creating a new account. Is Blizzard violating the terms of their own EULA? "I have contacted Blizzard about this and have had a very interesting conversation with the Billing department, first by phone and then by email.

They keep telling me they will not transfer an account. I keep telling them I do not want an account transferred, but want to create my own account. What appears to be the final answer is that 'an authentication key can only be used once, regardless of the number of owners.'

This is not stated anywhere in the EULA or Terms of Use. If it is, I have been unable to find it, and *Blizzard has repeatedly ignored my request that they identify where in the EULA or Terms of Use this is stated.*

I have the complete retail package, including the CD case with the Authentication Key. So what if it is has been used in the past? Whatever happened to the first-sale doctrine?

At one point, the Blizzard representative likened my request to buying an empty milk jug and returning to the store to demand more milk for free so I can use the jug. This is an incredibly inept analogy. What Blizzard is doing is allowing only the original purchaser of the jug to buy a refill; anyone else who happens to buy or be given the jug is prohibited from buying more milk to put in it.

Another item of interest is that the representative told me that they can not, for any reason, delete an account, not even at the account owner's request. The most they can do is to suspend the account. Unfortunately, that keeps a record of the Authentication Key in their system, preventing that key from ever being used again.

While the EULA expressly permits permanent transfer of ownership of the game to another person, nowhere does either the EULA or the Terms of Use mention that such a transfer makes the game completely useless because Blizzard will not allow the new owner to use the game; the game cannot be played without an online account and a subscription to the service, and Blizzard will not even allow the account to be created.

You might say the "easy" answer is to get the seller to give me the account info for the account he created. However, according to Blizzard's representative, not all of the original account information can be modified. In fact, enough would be unchangable that the original owner of the account would be able to regain control of the account at any time, should he desire to do so.

I had no expectation that a used copy of the game would be such a problem. After all, even all of Blizzard's previous games (Warcraft 2, Starcraft, BroodWar) had keys that could be used and passed on while maintaining the reasonable restriction that only one instance of the key could be used at any one time. (I have never bought or played Warcraft 3, so I do not know about it.) In fact, I bought my copy of Starcraft used and never had any trouble with it.

I am not trying to cheat Blizzard out of anything. I *want* to pay them for a monthly subscription so I can play the game, but they will not allow it solely because at some point in the past someone else has used what is now my copy of the game.

So here's a warning to everyone out there; be very careful if you are thinking about buying a used copy of World of Warcraft. You may have a complete and legitimate set of all the game materials, but you will not be able to play it.

For all the lawyers, and the many IANALs, out there, what do you think of the chances of a lawsuit succeeding to change Blizzard's stance on this? Would anyone else be interested in taking this on with me?"

A question that comes to mind is whether the seller fulfilled all three parts of the Termination clause, section 5 of the EULA. If the seller failed to notify Blizzard of intention to terminate, it could be argued that the seller's licenses remain in effect and thus new license could not be given to the buyer of the used game. But one would hope Blizzard's customer service would at least make this clear to the buyer.

Comments

Why not just buy a new copy instead of old?

[OS24Ever]

I'm sorry if I'm asking the obvious here, but why not buy a copy from a store instead of a used copy from someone? I mean it's a monthly charge and you're sneaking out of the $39.95 or whatever it is for the base version? (I bought the 'collectors edition' not sure waht the regular one cost)

That being said, I can give you my '10 day free' key if you want to play that bad.

Seller owes you the login/pass

[Grid Reaper]

To be a true and complete transfer, the seller of the used game should give you the Username/password for the account that is associated for that WoW serial. Otherwise you are getting an incomplete product. It's like buying a used combination lock without getting the combination.

Re:Get your money back.

[reidbold]

Maybe you should read where he says "I have contacted Blizzard" intead of being an asshat.

Re:Get your money back.

[jandrese]

Uh, did you read the writeup at all? He contacted them several times and they just gave him the runaround.

Re:Get your money back.

[arkanes]

I know theres a whole bunch of words up there, and they're pretty scary, but maybe you should grit your teeth and try reading them. Seriously.