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Steam Fined $3 Million For Refusing Refunds (smh.com.au)

Posted by msmash on from the fine-time dept.

Gaming company Valve Corporation has been hit with a $3 million fine after the Federal Court found its online games site Steam breached Australian Consumer Laws. From a report: The court imposed the maximum fine requested by Australia's competition regulator because of Valve's disregard for Australian law and lack of contrition. Valve's general counsel, Karl Quackenbush, told the court the company did not obtain legal advice when it set up in Australia, and did not check its obligations until the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission got involved in April 2014. It only provided staff verbal instructions. This lack of interest in Australian laws and lack of cooperation encouraged Justice James Edelman to impose a pentaly 12 times more than Valve Corporation suggested it pay.

6 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. Pentaly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Pentaly.

  2. Seriously? by mhkohne · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How could ANYONE be stupid enough to not check local laws when opening in a new COUNTRY? I see that Valve is privately held, and apparently the owners aren't really very good at the detail work on things like this.

    I've said before that you can't run a company only by listening to lawyers (and quite frequently you need to ignore them when they get too protective), but that doesn't mean you don't need them at all!

    I applaud Australia for levying a fine high enough that someone will perhaps notice and wish to avoid a repeat.

    --
    A thousand pounds of wood moving at 300 feet per minute. Don't get in the way.
    1. Re:Seriously? by Solandri · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There are no borders on the Internet. As best as I can tell, Steam (Valve) doesn't have any presence in Australia. They set up a payment-based website which distributes games over the Internet, and people in Australia happened to use it.

      You probably have a website or a Facebook page or a Twitter feed. Since it's online, it's accessible from nearly every country in the world. Did you check to make sure everything you post complies with every law in every country on the planet?

    2. Re: Seriously? by corychristison · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I operate a digital service online. My business is established in Canada, marketed to Canadians.

      If someone from within the European Union decided to sign up and make a payment to my business in Canadian Dollars, I now legally have to register for a Tax ID within a European country and remit VAT.

      Do I like it? Not at all. Is it the law? Yes. Do trade agreements enforce this law? You betcha.

      I chose the alternative, and put a notice on my site that I can't do business with Europeans with an explaination and referenced the specific law.

      I'm a small business owner. I can't afford the headaches that would cause. Perhaps in the future, but not righy now.

  3. Re:Australian "conservatives" don't understand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Found the American. It's the only place on Earth where anything short of a straight up Nazi is considered a leftist.

  4. Re: "did not obtain legal advice when it set up" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This! I sent a bilateral contact to mark zuckerberg laying out the terms on which i'd be happy to license my personal data, and he laughed at me till I showed him your post. That convinced him!