Selling a downloaded game

jasonb

Hi there,

Not sure if this is the right forum or not.

I bought a game, legally, online and dowloaded it to my PC. Am I able to legally sell this game? The game came as a large file, can I burn it onto a CD, delete it from my system, and then sell it?

Thanks!

J.

Born To Be Mild

Hello!

As far as I know when you buy the game, or any copyrighted material, you buy the right to use it for your own personal use (not public) - you don't own any kind of distribution rights to the file.

It should have come with a licence or EULA (End User Licence Agreement) which will answer your question.

fionny

It would depend on where you got the game from, the publisher of the game etc... IE you cannot sell on Steam Games as they are attached permanently to your account.

Also if its something like say Mass Effect and you registered a key against and email addresses then you are also stuck.

In a nutshell they do not want you doing this and will in general make it quite hard for you to do so.

jasonb

Thanks for your replies. It's interesting, as I imagine If I'd bought it on CD in a shop then they're be no problem selling it. But I'll leave it be...

J.

fionny

Thats not quite true, I bought Diablo 3 in a shop but they key is attached to my Battle.net account forever... you could I suppose consider selling your battle.net account but that is against terms and conditions and it could get taken away.

Console games are the only one's you can sell on at the moment and the rumours strongly suggest that the next generation of consoles will put a stop to it in some manner... why? Because game devs are desperately jealous of the massive profit companies like Gamestop are making off second hand games.

bernardamaac.

i thought u could send games through steam?

Rynox45

In general game developers don't want you selling games on as they don't get any money from it in most cases. As such they'll make it as hard as they can for you to sell on the game.

With a downloadable game you'll probably find that the EULA restricts your ability to make physical copies of the game or that a 1-off licence key is needed. If you're talking about burning multiple copies of the game, that's straight up piracy like back in the old days

Ronomono

Well, technically, no, you can't. Like. Burning a game to a disk is illegal, thats copying intellectual property, but nobody is gonna find out if you do. ANd even when you buy games, the companies still own the property, really. Hence why you always have to click "I Agree" before you install :P

i thought u could send games through steam?

As for this - yes, you can, but only if you buy it as a gift first. If you activate a product on your Steam, you cannot send it.

Monotype

If that games the only one in your account, you could sell the entire account. It's probably against the user agreement in most cases but I'm not sure how this ties in with the law.

Selling the disc through backups usually won't work unless the person at the other end has access to the account.

fionny

This ruling just got passed today!

The Court Of Justice of the European Union has just ruled that people should be able to resell downloaded games.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/07/03/crikey-eu-rules-you-can-resell-downloaded-games/

fionny

This bit of news warranted its own thread as it is quite monumental and really gives 2 fingers to the big publishers!

Basically the EU has ruled that it is the right of owners of digital games / other software to sell it on. Basically unless its a temporary license you should be allowed to see it on 100% legit...

Companies like MS and Sony will really feel this as they were actively trying to prevent even console games from being sold on.

A great ruling! well done EU!

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/07/03/crikey-eu-rules-you-can-resell-downloaded-games/

GarIT

Soon we won't be able to buy games anymore, you just rent them for a year. Every game will be a subscription service. Especially if the next gen consoles have no disc drive.

Monotype

Wow! Wonder if this will have an real impact on any of the existing systems.
Steam have always been very clear that you're buying a subscription of the games and not a copy/ownership.

I have no interest in re-sale personally but I am not fond of DRM. I hope this doesn't make things worse like just having limited time validity - i.e., I suppose the pay to model in MMO games or I suppose as we see with means such as onlive. I'll just keep my money and spend on those more deserving.

Lockky

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-07-03-gmg-eu-resale-ruling-will-shake-up-the-digital-distribution-market

Basically it means that if you buy a game online you can sell it to one of your mates like you would a hard copy (cd I mean). Pretty interesting because for the time being it voids the EULA you sign with steam / origin etc. as that is now technically in breach of an EU ruling.

RUCKING FETARD

GarIT wrote: »

Soon we won't be able to buy games anymore, you just rent them for a year. Every game will be a subscription service. Especially if the next gen consoles have no disc drive.

Xbox and PS are coming with blu ray drives.

yoyo

GarIT wrote: »

Soon we won't be able to buy games anymore, you just rent them for a year. Every game will be a subscription service. Especially if the next gen consoles have no disc drive.

I loath DLC, it particularly rips the p*ss when games come with the additional content on the disc but you need to pay to unlock it, absolute greed. I for one won't be buying any next gen console, which i'm sure will be riddled with ridiculous DRM that is the fashion these days...
Well done EU, but as others are saying games will be available to "rent" from now on

Nick
Threads Merged

bernardamaac.

RUCKING FETARD wrote: »

Xbox and PS are coming with blu ray drives.

Haha know there not blu ray dvd drive are irrelevant if there not using cd's it will all be downloads.

GarIT

RUCKING FETARD wrote: »

Xbox and PS are coming with blu ray drives.

I read the Next xbox will not have any physical games, and will require an internet connection before it will let you play anything you have already downloaded. Could just be rumors though.

GarIT

yoyo wrote: »

I loath DLC, it particularly rips the p*ss when games come with the additional content on the disc but you need to pay to unlock it, absolute greed. I for one won't be buying any next gen console, which i'm sure will be riddled with ridiculous DRM that is the fashion these days...
Well done EU, but as others are saying games will be available to "rent" from now on

Nick
Threads Merged

I agree with you there, I much prefer to actually have the game. DLC used to be acceptable, when it was rare and decent value but its all gone downhill since.

RUCKING FETARD

bernardamaac. wrote: »

Haha know there not blu ray dvd drive are irrelevant if there not using cd's it will all be downloads.

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/comms/item/27942-digital-divide-ireland/

My sister has to use Satellite BB ffs. Download me arse.

'Halo 4' multiplayer requires 8GB installation

GarIT wrote: »

I read the Next xbox will not have any physical games, and will require an internet connection before it will let you play anything you have already downloaded. Could just be rumors though.

http://www.bgr.com/2012/06/21/xbox-720-pricing-details-kinect-2-leak/

RUCKING FETARD

GarIT wrote: »

I agree with you there, I much prefer to actually have the game. DLC used to be acceptable, when it was rare and decent value but its all gone downhill since.

DLC on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops is half price tomorrow due to it being Independence day or some such, hows that for value!!?:pac:

The July 4th promotion includes the following DLC:

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 "Content Collection #1"
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 "Content Collection #2"
• Call of Duty: Black Ops "First Strike"
• Call of Duty: Black Ops "Escalation"
• Call of Duty: Black Ops "Annihilation"
• Call of Duty: Black Ops "Rezurrection"

EU rejects Oracle secondhand software licence grab

An attempt by Oracle to stop the sale of secondhand licences on software downloaded over the internet was rejected today by the community's highest court.


In its judgment today, the Court of Justice of the European Union decided that the author of software "cannot oppose the resale of his ‘used’ licences allowing the use of his programs downloaded from the internet. The exclusive right of distribution of a copy of a computer program covered by such a licence is exhausted on its first sale".


The ruling comes in proceedings brought by Oracle against a German company called UsedSoft, which, in contravention of licence agreements, resold licences acquired from Oracle customers. Oracle give the customer a "non-transferable user right for an unlimited period, exclusively for his internal business purpose," The Court of Justice writes.


The court's ruling hinges on the EU directive on the legal protection of computer programs, which introduces the principle of exhaustion of distribution right after first sale. Oracle argued that this does not apply to user licences downloaded from the internet.
The Court rejected this claim, judging that the principle of exhaustion holds good for downloads as well as for copies distributed by CD-ROM or DVD.


This is a sensible judgment, but does not have major ramifications for the software industry. The Court is merely reinforcing the right to sell secondhand software licences within the EU.

RUCKING FETARD

yoyo wrote: »

ridiculous DRM that is the fashion these days...

yoyo

RUCKING FETARD wrote: »

DLC on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops is half price tomorrow due to it being Independence day or some such, hows that for value!!?:pac:

Will be buying 20 copies, sounds like such a bargain :pac::pac:

Nick