class-action lawsuit
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LGJ: Class Dismissed
Each week Mark Methenitis contributes Law of the Game on Joystiq ("LGJ"), a column on legal issues as they relate to video games: It seems almost weekly a new article appears on Joystiq referencing yet another class action filed against the game industry. If it's not consoles, it's kick pedals. As a result of this class action proliferation, I was asked by a reader to explain this whole class action concept in a little more detail. I'm sure most people have some idea of the basic concept behind the class action, but not necessarily why it's become the weapon of choice, so to speak, of certain disgruntled gamers or what these lawsuits actually entail. The basic idea behind a class action suit is to resolve a large number of suits with similar elements in one proceeding, rather than requiring each to have its own proceeding. These similarly situated plaintiffs make up the 'class' in the class action. Taking the red ring suit as an example, there are a large number of people whose Xbox360s red ringed who could file suit under the theory presented. Rather than force Microsoft to potentially deal with each suit individually, they can deal with that 'class' in a single legal action. In reality, that's a gross oversimplification of the process.
More "Vista Capable" emails unsealed, revealing sassy civil war
Remember when Microsoft was hit with a lawsuit over its "Vista Capable" stickers? How about when the judge unsealed emails revealing that after a long battle to promote Vista's graphics-intensive Aero UI, it capitulated and lowered the requirements for the sticker so Intel could keep on selling its graphically-challenged (i.e., WDDM noncompliant) 915 chipset? Yeah, that was awesome. Connoisseurs of corporate drama should appreciate the latest development -- the judge has made public a second batch of emails revealing that MS execs were at odds about that decision. Senior VP Will Poole apparently made the call to appease Intel, but co-President of Platform & Services Jim Allchin (along with many others who had been fighting for the other side for months) was "beyond being upset," saying "this was totally mismanaged by Intel and Microsoft. What a mess." The mess he was referring to: an unhappy partner in HP, which had spent millions to meet the old standards... and presciently, the lawsuit we're watching now. Alright, maybe not so awesome for everyone.
Vista Capable sticker lawsuit gets class-action status
It looks like that little lawsuit over "Vista Capable" stickers on PCs could now be about to get quite a bit bigger, as a federal judge has now bestowed class-action status on the suit, which accuses Microsoft of misleading marketing. More specifically, as the AP reports, the suit alleges that the "Vista Capable" stickers slapped on PCs during the 2006 holiday season created an "artificial demand" for the computers, and "inflated prices for computers that couldn't be upgraded to the full-featured version of Vista." As we've seen, those stickers even took in at least one higher-up at Microsoft itself, who has made his thoughts on the program quite well known. While things are still obviously in the early stages, the law firm that filed the suit is now looking for others that feel they've been burned by the stickers, and ComputerWorld has the details on you can get involved at the link below.[Via ComputerWorld]
Class-action lawsuit filed against IGE
Speaking of lawsuits, Terra Nova is reporting that there's been class-action lawsuit filed in Florida against IGE for... well, I'll let you read for yourself:The case involves IGE's calculated decision to reap substantial profits by knowingly interfering with and substantially impairing the intended use and enjoyment associated with consumer agreements between Blizzard Entertainment and subscribers to its virtual world called World of Warcraft.The lawsuit seeks both monetary damages and a stop IGE's gold farming activities. (If you just can't get enough legalspeak, you can take a look at the entire text of the lawsuit here, via Terra Nova.) Now, I have to admit that I am not a lawyer and cannot tell you whether this lawsuit has any substance to it. However, I can assure you that over here at WoW Insider we'll be looking for any updates on this -- so we can pass them right on to you.
Microsoft hit with lawsuit for "false" Vista ads
A new complaint has been aimed at Microsoft, seeking class action lawsuit status, and claiming the software giant put a bit more "wow" into its ads than it squeezed onto "Windows Vista Capable" PCs. Dianne Kelly of Camano Island, Washington, who's behind the suit, alleges that Microsoft was misleading buyers by placing Vista Capable stickers on PCs only capable of running Windows Vista Home Basic, and none of that fancy Aero, Flip3D or Media Center PC stuff that seems to be most everything the ads and marketing are talking about. Microsoft naturally disagrees, and has contested the suit. "We feel as a company we went beyond what we've ever done to try to educate people so that they understood and could make the right purchase decision," said Linda Norman, a Microsoft associate general counsel. Part of that effort even included a special "Premium Ready" sticker for retail machines that were up to snuff, but there's no mention of what you're missing out on affixed to Basic machines. There's no denying that Vista Basic is in many ways just a slight upgrade over XP, and that the multiple versions of Vista are expensive and unnecessarily complicated, but from how it looks right now, it's hard to see the suit going too far.[Via Slashdot]
Nintendo hit with class action lawsuit for "defective" wrist straps
It's all fun and games until somebody busts out a class action lawsuit. We were all enjoying thwacking each other in the face and busting up our televisions so very much that it looks like nobody thought to start any profiteering on this whole Wiimote weak sauce wrist strap meme -- until now. Those clever cats over at Green Welling LLP slapped Nintendo with a lawsuit citing "Nintendo's failure to include a remote that is free from defects" as a "breach of Nintendo's own product warranty." Apparently the nefarious straps were engineering the whole thing, since GW LLP claims "Owners of the Nintendo Wii reported that when they used the Nintendo remote and wrist strap, as instructed by the material that accompanied the Wii console, the wrist strap broke and caused the remote to leave the user's hand." Given the fact that the basic premise of these claims is a tad bit off (we're fairly certain those straps have been breaking after the Wiimote leaves the hand) and that Green Welling's main demand from Nintendo is that they replace the straps (done and done), we can't see this lawsuit getting too terribly far, but we suppose we'll have to wait and find out.[Via Slashdot]
