Legal Trouble For MMOs In Australia

Zonk tips a story at Massively that has uncovered a potential legal controversy in Australia where some MMOs are concerned. Under Australian law, all games require a formal rating to be sold. Due to an oversight, many MMOs do not carry such a rating, yet they have been sold since release without anyone realizing the problem. "According to the Act, selling a single copy of an unclassified game attracts a penalty of AU$27,220.80 or two years. Selling unclassified games in commercial quantities (50 or more) can have a much steeper schedule of penalties, and additional penalties apply to advertising unclassified material, or simply omitting the correct ratings labels on the merchandise. ... publishers and distributors at some point misunderstood their obligations with respect to MMOG classifications in Australia, and operated under the belief that no such rating was required here." Reader Clomer points out that this has been brought to the attention of the Australian media, so hopefully the issue will be resolved soon.

Comments

Penalty - Send all the convicts to Australia

[Patito]

AU$27,220.80 or two years? I for one vote for doing things like in the old days: Just send all the convicts to Australia...

Re:Pisses me

[Bastard of Subhumani]

Guns [snip] because they're dangerous if NOT handled properly

They're also quite dangerous if they are handled properly. That's the point of them, isn't it?