legal agreements
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Got time to spare? Read the iTunes store agreement
The other day, I was innocently about to update a couple of apps on my iPhone when a message interrupted me asking -- well, forcing me -- to read an updated agreement for the iTunes store. No problem, I think to myself, until I scroll down and see that the agreement is 56, count 'em, 56 iPhone screens long. Now I'm a pretty careful guy about reading the fine print, but I was mobile, and I either had to accept the agreement, or not get my updates. Apple had another great idea. It would email me the agreement. Huh? What's the advantage? It will take just as long to read as an email as it does on the App Store page. Apple is proud of making things easy for users. This Kafkaesque approach to getting users information about an updated agreement would be funny if it wasn't so sad. Why not give the reader a chance to read a summary of the changes? After all, the only reason for the new agreement is that some changes were made.
Interplay responds to Bethesda's Fallout claims, calls them "absurd"
War... war never changes. Not even when it's over an IP. The Fallout MMO has been stuck in the middle of a legal battle for roughly half of forever, and it doesn't seem like the controversy is going to stop any time soon. Bethesda's most recent filing claimed that Interplay had only licensed the rights to use the Fallout name, rather than any of the other assets that would lead to developing an MMO. Interplay has responded to this claim by calling it outright absurd. According to Interplay, the license between the companies specifically required Interplay to develop a Fallout MMO, using the name and all related assets as part of the overall experience. Using only the name and nothing else related to the franchise would be strictly against the terms of the original agreement. Although it's not clear at the moment how long this particular skirmish will take, it's obvious that both companies are still dedicated to fighting the rights out to the bitter end.
UK game retailer claims 7,500 souls with a legal agreement prank
Don't think about it, just answer: Do you really read all of those agreements and legal texts that you need to scroll through when installing a game, signing up for a service or buying something online? Really? 7,500 people either don't, or they don't care about their eternal salvation, because UK video game retailer Gamestation could now legally own 7,500 souls if it wanted to. On April 1, it added a clause to its legal purchase agreement that granted the company "a non transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul," and 7,500 game buyers happily clicked to agree. The company was just April Fooling -- the claims have been legally renounced, and worried patrons can click through to the website to get their soul back (and a special discount code for their trouble). But next time, you should probably read the fine print a little more closely.
