http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2331222,00.asp
Quote:
With all the vitriol surrounding Spore's digital rights management scheme, it was only a matter of time before lawyers got involved.
Courthouse News Service reports (via Shacknews) that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Electronic Arts in federal court, which alleges the company defrauds its customers by not disclosing the installation of SecuROM copy protection as part of Spore's installation.
Interestingly, while the most vocal complaints regarding Spore's DRM have focused on the ways it limits the use of the game, this lawsuit is concerned with the fact that it exists at all.
"Although consumers are told that the game uses access control and copy protection technology, consumers are not told that this technology is actually an entirely separate, stand-alone program which will download, install and operate on their computers along with the Spore download," the complaint reads (you can read the full PDF document here).
"Consumers are given no control, rights or options over SecuROM," the complaint continues. "The program is uninstallable. Once installed, it becomes a permanent part of the consumer's software portfolio. Even if the consumer uninstalls Spore and entirely deletes it from their computer, SecuROM remains a fixture in their computer unless and until the consumer completely wipes their hard drive through reformatting or replacement of the drive."
Will be interesting to see which way this goes.
