Valve sued by German consumer group because Steam users can’t resell games

[TheDvEight]

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/02/01/valve-sued-by-german-consumer-group-because-steam-users-cant-resell-games/

[smilodon]

Interesting. I thought that in the US and UK at least it had been decided that we own the right to use the software, i.e. run the application, rather than actually own the copy of the code. If we don't own the code we technically can't sell it to a 3rd party even if we own the disc the code is stored on. With Valve we don't even own the physical medium as there isn't any. So I would have thought it was even more clear cut.

In my profession (photography) it's pretty straight forward. I supply photographs to a client for them to use. Unless I explicitly agree they cannot sell or even give those images to anyone else, even if they then delete the original  images they hold. Seems to be a similar issue with software?

[faust82]

It's pretty clear in the TOS that what you buy is a non-transferrable non-resellable licence eternally tied to your account to use the software for as long as your account is valid. This is the deal when you buy digital download games. It's completely voluntary to buy these games, Valve does not have stormtroopers running around germany forcing people to buy their games.

Yet another moron move from a publicity-seeking consumer rights group that might well just end up ruining the service for the rest of us.