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Microsoft Vs. Banned Xbox Live Gamers in Court?
upupeng
Member Posts: 74
A recent report shown that Microsoft had banned a closed amount of players from Xbox Live because those gamers had their Xbox modded for piracy play. As such, a law firm by the name of Abington IP, which they are specialized in helping consumers in class action cases are looking into seeing if they can get a case for the banned players of Xbox Live.
Abington IP even set up a form on their site for banned players to try to get in on this case and get a potential refund for the remaining time on their Xbox Live subscription.
Abington IP explained on their site why they have a case on Microsoft:
As has been reported widely in the media, tens of thousands of Xbox owners have had their modified Xbox consoles banned from Microsoft’s online gaming service Xbox Live. Although modification of Xbox consoles is against the terms of use for Xbox/Xbox Live, Microsoft “conveniently” timed the Xbox console ban to occur just after the release of the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game and less than two months after the release of the very popular Halo 3: ODST game. This “convenient” timing may have resulted in more Xbox Live subscription revenues for Microsoft than it would have generated had these Xbox console bans taken place at some time before the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Halo 3: ODST. Additionally, sales of both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (published by Activision) and Halo 3: ODST (published by Microsoft Game Studios) would likely have been greatly diminished had the Xbox console ban occurred prior to the release of these games.
Well they might come up with a better strategy when or if they go to court with Microsoft. If you are one of the many (or little) banned Xbox Live gamers, then you might as well sign the form and see if you can get a partial refund.
Comments
The statements you make about players being banned are wrong. The statements I presume you are quoting (since you don't provide a link) in the non-standard colored text are correct. The modified consoles have been banned from the Xbox Live service. The Xbox Live accounts of the people who own those modified consoles are still valid and may be used through non-modified consoles. Those modified Xbox consoles may still be used while not connected to the Xbox Live service.
Because people who mod consoles buy games.....yeah....
Says the clueless... i got a modded console and i very VERY few pirated games (the ones i have aren't available in my region).
Tbh i have two xbox 360s, one for playing the games i cant get in my country and one for playing the real games online and such...
Why shouldnt it be allowed to modify something you bought? Microsoft doesnt own it, i do.
For example: you buy a car and changes engine in it, now your not allowed to drive on the motorway anymore... Does it sound correct?
actually i modded mine just because i needed a server to run swat 4
Says the clueless... i got a modded console and i very VERY few pirated games (the ones i have aren't available in my region).
Tbh i have two xbox 360s, one for playing the games i cant get in my country and one for playing the real games online and such...
Why shouldnt it be allowed to modify something you bought? Microsoft doesnt own it, i do.
For example: you buy a car and changes engine in it, now your not allowed to drive on the motorway anymore... Does it sound correct?
I agree. It is not Micro$ofts bussiness what you do with the equipment you bought unless it is illegal to modify your Xbox, which I strongly doubt it is.
My gaming blog
Are you kidding? It is against the terms of XBOX Live when you have this modded xbox, the name is not yours, it is their's you use their service and should do it right. Those with modded Xbox 360s SHOULD be banned, how dare you think you are special and get things that others do not have in your region. Enough is enough, play fair or don't play at all.
You mod your Xbox, your PS3, PSP, Wii...you SHOULD be banned, you are paying for a service that is being provided by someone else, it is not your service, you are just paying to use it.
Says the clueless... i got a modded console and i very VERY few pirated games (the ones i have aren't available in my region).
Tbh i have two xbox 360s, one for playing the games i cant get in my country and one for playing the real games online and such...
Why shouldnt it be allowed to modify something you bought? Microsoft doesnt own it, i do.
For example: you buy a car and changes engine in it, now your not allowed to drive on the motorway anymore... Does it sound correct?
It's not the same thing.
You can't modify your engine to give your car free gas (or petrol for you euro's).
Modding a console to pirate games is tantamount to theft. And if i remember correctly the way xbox live works you don't need a cd-key to play games online. Which means if you pirate a game like MW 2 off of a rented copy then you can play it online forever with a pirated 360. Which actually makes console piracy have a bigger impact on game sales. With services like gamefly.com you can just rent a game, pirate it to your HD and play it forever for the price of your rental which is substantially less than if you had bought it.
I personally don't care though. Live as a pirate then eventually you'll hang (aka get banned or maybe arrested).
Says the clueless... i got a modded console and i very VERY few pirated games (the ones i have aren't available in my region).
Tbh i have two xbox 360s, one for playing the games i cant get in my country and one for playing the real games online and such...
Why shouldnt it be allowed to modify something you bought? Microsoft doesnt own it, i do.
For example: you buy a car and changes engine in it, now your not allowed to drive on the motorway anymore... Does it sound correct?
I agree. It is not Micro$ofts bussiness what you do with the equipment you bought unless it is illegal to modify your Xbox, which I strongly doubt it is.
It is illegal, as it is also illegal to make private servers of MMOs....it falls under the copyright acts.
Says the clueless... i got a modded console and i very VERY few pirated games (the ones i have aren't available in my region).
Tbh i have two xbox 360s, one for playing the games i cant get in my country and one for playing the real games online and such...
Why shouldnt it be allowed to modify something you bought? Microsoft doesnt own it, i do.
For example: you buy a car and changes engine in it, now your not allowed to drive on the motorway anymore... Does it sound correct?
I agree. It is not Micro$ofts bussiness what you do with the equipment you bought unless it is illegal to modify your Xbox, which I strongly doubt it is.
If I remember correctly then it actually is illegal if you actually pirate a game. Could be wrong though.
Based on the justification given in the OP, I don't think they have a leg to stand on.
HOWEVER, look at it this way: MS bans a whole mess of consoles. They provide absolutely NO option for contesting a ban, the only option one has is to buy a new console. Now, if all the banned consoles deserve to be banned, then its all good. 2 problems with that however:
1. You have to be willing to accept that Microsoft ran an operation with a 100% success rate.
2. IF you're willing to believe that MS is capable of running an operation with a 100% success rate, and that every single person banned deserved it, then it wouldn't have cost MS anything to offer a token option for protesting the ban, since no one would have been able to take advantage of it.
Given all that, its clear to me, that regardless of their justifiable right to ban, the fact that the ONLY solution is to buy another console makes me think MS was using the ban-hammer to generate revenue, and if anyone innocent wants to take them to court over that, they'd probably have a case.
The people who modded don't have a chance in hell.
Its not special treatment. Your not paying for the service your paying for the hardware. Once you own the hardware its yours do do with as you please. And as far as your next post. This is why copyright laws need to be reformed until they are I forward you to revolutiontt
On a side note, the game companies cant control us, they have no right to. If they keep shoving crap out their doors and hoping people will pay money for it, they are gravely mistaken. Ill continue to pirate my black heart out until games start being released that are worth the money spent.
Its not special treatment. Your not paying for the service your paying for the hardware. Once you own the hardware its yours do do with as you please. And as far as your next post. This is why copyright laws need to be reformed until they are I forward you to revolutiontt
Pirating games means you are stealing from the company who made the game. How would you like it if someone stole something you worked hard on? You are paying for the XBOX Live service...which is what causes most people to get banned anyways, they have XBOX Live, they pirate games, shows up on their "What am I playing" weeks before the game is even released, I say you deserve an automatic ban. Getting it before me? Before anyone else? You do think you are special.
Says the clueless... i got a modded console and i very VERY few pirated games (the ones i have aren't available in my region).
Tbh i have two xbox 360s, one for playing the games i cant get in my country and one for playing the real games online and such...
Why shouldnt it be allowed to modify something you bought? Microsoft doesnt own it, i do.
For example: you buy a car and changes engine in it, now your not allowed to drive on the motorway anymore... Does it sound correct?
Well, they didn't take away your Xbox, they simply banned the Xbox Live account.
Same thing as taking that car, making engine changes that violate competition rules, therefore getting banned from all competitions with that car associated with these rules, in this case the whole online service.
Says the clueless... i got a modded console and i very VERY few pirated games (the ones i have aren't available in my region).
Tbh i have two xbox 360s, one for playing the games i cant get in my country and one for playing the real games online and such...
Why shouldnt it be allowed to modify something you bought? Microsoft doesnt own it, i do.
For example: you buy a car and changes engine in it, now your not allowed to drive on the motorway anymore... Does it sound correct?
Well, they didn't take away your Xbox, they simply banned the Xbox Live account.
Same thing as taking that car, making engine changes that violate competition rules, therefore getting banned from all competitions with that car associated with these rules, in this case the whole online service.
So driving on a motorway is racing these days? AWESOME!
As i said, theres many reasons to modify YOUR hardware... Should i be banned from the internet because i modified my computer? good story there.
Its not special treatment. Your not paying for the service your paying for the hardware. Once you own the hardware its yours do do with as you please. And as far as your next post. This is why copyright laws need to be reformed until they are I forward you to revolutiontt
Pirating games means you are stealing from the company who made the game. How would you like it if someone stole something you worked hard on? You are paying for the XBOX Live service...which is what causes most people to get banned anyways, they have XBOX Live, they pirate games, shows up on their "What am I playing" weeks before the game is even released, I say you deserve an automatic ban. Getting it before me? Before anyone else? You do think you are special.
You wanna know what i would think if someone pirated MY game (Im a game developer)? I think it'd be awesome cuz the guy wouldnt most likely buy my game otherwise, maybe he will recommend the game to some of his friends who aren't so good with DLing and stuff that they might go buy it. Even if they dont my game still made itself a name most likely and that way my name will grow.
Private servers aren't illegal, the ones connection to it might break the EULA and that might get them banned from the original servers, companies laws =/= real laws... keep that in mind, only way is if the server software is leaked (aka illegal) or if they'r selling property of the company (Which is the same as selling pirated games (which i think ppl should get busted for)).
And i will keep my modded hardware modded, i buy a game from japan (i sometime does)... o noes... i cant play it... im not in the correct region... what to do now? o yes i can modify my xbox so i can play the game i bought! nice!
(MS bans me)
Uh... wtf?
Your in my CC folder now. : )
Yeah sure, you think it is cool till you start to lose money, games work like music. Just like Vanilla Ice was sued for stealing from Queen, you can be sued for stealing from a company. Copyright laws are copyright laws, you break them, you can get sued and jailed for it.
So, private servers aren't illegal, then why is the FBI getting involved? If it isn't illegal, there is no reason for the FBI to be doing anything. If modding isn't illegal, why do you get banned?
Oh I have a DSi from Japan and a DSi from America, I play Japanese games on my Japanese DSi and I play the American ones on my DSi from America...I bought both because modding can get me banned and is unfair.
I still don't see how you people can even justify modding an xbox and complain when you get banned, their is no justification for doing something illegal, no matter what it is.
"But Officer I was just trying to catch up with traffic" you still get the ticket. "But officer, it isn't illegal" Oh heck yes it is if you speed...it is illegal and can cause you to have your license taken from you and your car. So, are you going to sue the county?
They no longer own the equipment but they own the service they are providing (Xbox Live) and can set the rules as they see fit for whoever the want to use it.
*shrug* IMO 1 pirated game is too many pirated games.
They no longer own the equipment but they own the service they are providing (Xbox Live) and can set the rules as they see fit for whoever the want to use it.
*shrug* IMO 1 pirated game is too many pirated games.
So what about if you buy a game and cant play it because of your console not being the correct region? Its still wrong to pirate the game even if you did pay for it?
Says the clueless... i got a modded console and i very VERY few pirated games (the ones i have aren't available in my region).
Tbh i have two xbox 360s, one for playing the games i cant get in my country and one for playing the real games online and such...
Why shouldnt it be allowed to modify something you bought? Microsoft doesnt own it, i do.
For example: you buy a car and changes engine in it, now your not allowed to drive on the motorway anymore... Does it sound correct?
You miss the point,your analogy is not an accurate comparison.If you bought a car and modded it in some way that it allowed you to STEAL,then yes you would have your car confiscated,and may end up in court and may get some jail time.
Some mickey mouse law firm who actually thinks they can benefit some cash from this by getting hundreds of people to sign on,will do nothing more than spend their profits and force Microsoft to prove they have modded forth purpose to steal.
If someone modded a machine for the purpose of making it better for a handicap child,i am positive ,there would be no problem at all,but stealing is something,that should go one step further.If you utter a death threat,you are extremely liable,so if you have the INTENT to steal,you should also be held liable.I would say modding your machine ,proves pretty good intent to steal.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
[Mod Edit]
Really what is the point of trying to justify doing something illegal. Either way, it is illegal. If you can't take the time to read the EULA or the Terms of Service for anything...If you can show me where it says it is absolute legal to modify your xbox or anything for that matter, I'll shut up. If you can't...stop trying to justify it. Sony has the right to ban your Sony account if you mod as well, I believe they should. Also, if you get enough warnings, your ISP can disable your internet, it is in their terms of service as well.
Ok, while it might not be illegal to mod your xbox, it does happen to be illegal to use that xbox on XBOX Live...just so you know. This is where company laws come in.
They no longer own the equipment but they own the service they are providing (Xbox Live) and can set the rules as they see fit for whoever the want to use it.
*shrug* IMO 1 pirated game is too many pirated games.
So what about if you buy a game and cant play it because of your console not being the correct region? Its still wrong to pirate the game even if you did pay for it?
Now, you shouldn't of bought the game and you should of done some research first as well. Your fault for buying a game not in your region. It is not there for a reason
They no longer own the equipment but they own the service they are providing (Xbox Live) and can set the rules as they see fit for whoever the want to use it.
*shrug* IMO 1 pirated game is too many pirated games.
So what about if you buy a game and cant play it because of your console not being the correct region? Its still wrong to pirate the game even if you did pay for it?
No, I don't have a problem with people who want to play a game that doesn't match the region code of their console but I do have a problem with people pirating their software by the definition of pirating (One who makes use of or reproduces the work of another without authorization). However, Microsoft apparently feels differently about it and wrong or right it's just the way they want it. It's their service to do with what they wish whether we agree with it or not.
Edit: Removed points already made by the poster above me.
Says the clueless... i got a modded console and i very VERY few pirated games (the ones i have aren't available in my region).
Tbh i have two xbox 360s, one for playing the games i cant get in my country and one for playing the real games online and such...
Why shouldnt it be allowed to modify something you bought? Microsoft doesnt own it, i do.
For example: you buy a car and changes engine in it, now your not allowed to drive on the motorway anymore... Does it sound correct?
You miss the point,your analogy is not an accurate comparison.If you bought a car and modded it in some way that it allowed you to STEAL,then yes you would have your car confiscated,and may end up in court and may get some jail time.
Some mickey mouse law firm who actually thinks they can benefit some cash from this by getting hundreds of people to sign on,will do nothing more than spend their profits and force Microsoft to prove they have modded forth purpose to steal.
If someone modded a machine for the purpose of making it better for a handicap child,i am positive ,there would be no problem at all,but stealing is something,that should go one step further.If you utter a death threat,you are extremely liable,so if you have the INTENT to steal,you should also be held liable.I would say modding your machine ,proves pretty good intent to steal.
Then should i be thrown in jail for sharpening a pen since it makes its killing capacity higher? Your the one missing the point.
I have to ask...why would you sharpen a pen?
The purchase and sale of an Xbox system has nothing to do with your right to get online services from xbox/microsoft. The y did not take away your xbox they just cut you off from using it to connect with xbox live. As far as the class action thing sounds like the lawyers are going to if they win make a decent ammount of money while you get like 10 dollars. they will get like 3 dollars x how many clients they represent.
My bad.
Pencil i meant... English is my secondary language. : )
But if you still wonder it might be for various reasons... maybe to draw thin lines?
My bad.
Pencil i meant... English is my secondary language. : )
But if you still wonder it might be for various reasons... maybe to draw thin lines?
Oh I see. Well, I can see you doing it for that reason but I do have a super fine pen that I use for that..cost me a pretty penny but it was worth it.