EULA, what a sad thing...

[smuggler]

I was searching through all the TXT docs in my Emu directory, and when I opened Sony's EULA file, I spotted this out of the corner of my eye and couldn't help but laugh...

You may not create, facilitate, host, link to or provide any other means through which the Game may be played by others, such as through server emulators.

According to the agreement, this constitutes being banned from 989's servers...

I'm sure you guys have all wondered about what Sony thinks of the Emu project, but I laugh at Sony in general, because there's nothing they can do about it (technically and effectively). Just thought I would post that, and thanks I guess. For making this possible...

lol @ Verant

[Wiz]

Yes, yes there is. They can start a legal process with their army of lawyers, eventually causing EQemu to be shut down because of the staggering legal costs.

Welcome to the american justice system. Where money is king.

[MrJag]

people said ther wasnt anything they could do about napster a couple years ago either

[NarutoLegacy]

Lol, sony is just waiting to nail us when we do something really illegal, but so far we haven't done anything bad enough to shut us down.

[Shawn319]

Awwww booo hooo i'm gonna get banned from thier $12.95/month servers i'm soo scared.

[Cripp]

they should just get over it, they make so much god damn money as it is, thousands and thousands play eq, each paying 12 dollars a month, that is a lot. but i guess people are just whack now and always want more money.

[driaknon]

i belive its about 150 thousand that play so like if you do the math 150000x$13.00=$1950000.00 a month so yeah they are just money grubbing bastages that dont want the all of 150 people who play the emu because they are losing a mighty $1950.00 a month compared to their nearly 2 million dollars they get every frickin month wich about may 50 thousand goes to their OC3 and i dunno another 100 thousand to server maitnence/employee wages aside from that they are greedy

[Shawn319]

no its closer to 400,000.

[driaknon]

hmm last public announcment said about 150 htousand so let me redo math hmm ok new total is 400,000x13=5200000 so yeah now they grub money even more cause seriously whats their loss of 2 grand to the 150 of us 1/2 of wich still play normal EQ so about a loss of 1000 oh no so they cant go buy that new delux all in one wonderbot that scrubs toilets and cleans the office... booh frickin whoo

[animepimp]

The only way Sony could really go after us is to prove we are causing them a significant loss of income by stealing what is theirs. We haven't stolen any server code from them and only write our own so thats pretty much impossible. So like everyone has said, about the only thing they can do with a EULA is ban people from playing on their servers if they play on the Emu. But thats pretty moronic for them to do because they are cutting themselves off from income just because a person wants to spend time on two different people's servers. I mean why would you stop someone from paying you because they choose to use up half the bandwidth and proccessing power while paying you the full amount? About the worst thing they could possibly do to us would be to force a person to log in to their account before they patch because that would force those of us who only play here to either pay them or not be able to patch so that our servers would be stuck at a certain version and the people who do patch on live can't get on or the people who don't can't get on.

[Windcatcher]

(sigh) I can see you're going to make me do this all over again...okay, for THE PEOPLE IN THE CHEAP SEATS, listen up: I am about to quote UNITED STATES FEDERAL LAW:

Title 15, Chapter 1, Section 14. - Sale, etc., on agreement not to use goods of competitor

It shall be unlawful for any person engaged in commerce, in the course of such commerce, to lease or make a sale or contract for sale of goods, wares, merchandise, machinery, supplies, or other commodities, whether patented or unpatented, for use, consumption, or resale within the United States or any Territory thereof or the District of Columbia or any insular possession or other place under the jurisdiction of the United States, or fix a price charged therefor, or discount from, or rebate upon, such price, on the condition, agreement, or understanding that the lessee or purchaser thereof shall not use or deal in the goods, wares, merchandise, machinery, supplies, or other commodities of a competitor or competitors of the lessor or seller, where the effect of such lease, sale, or contract for sale or such condition, agreement, or understanding may be to substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly in any line of commerce

First off, I am not a lawyer, but the above IS THE LAW. The following is my interpretation of the law as I see it. EQEmu is a COMPETITOR to EQ and as such Sony MAY NOT use any legal language barring you from using their product with those of a competitor. In my opinion, the very language in their EULA is unlawful according to the statute I state above. Title 15 covers antitrust law and language barring a customer from using the goods of a competitor is considered restraint of trade and is illegal.

The above law is part of the Clayton Act of 1914, if anyone wants to look it up (and I'd appreciate any references to any case law if some legal hounds can scrounge it up). I have no doubt that a good lawyer could get that EULA clause struck by a court if it ever went that far. As far as I can tell, EQEmu BREAKS NO LAW WHATSOEVER--just because SOE doesn't like the use of their products with those of a competitor doesn't give them the slightest legal right to bar you from doing such a thing--if anything, the law is entirely on the side of EQEmu. The day that EQEmu runs afoul of the law is the day I walk away from the project (though, due to severe EQ/EQEmu burnout I'm considering walking away anyway).

Got it? EULA's are NOT law -- LAWS are, and the above Act of Congress IS THE LAW. PERIOD.

(grumble)

WC

[Ademonde]

*clap*

[Damaja]

I am SURE they have folks that have accounts on the emu and do ya think they got folks that monitor this forum? hehe I am SURE they do.

[Windcatcher]

Good for them. If I worked for SOE, I certainly would. If EQEmu is breaking the law, I just wish someone would clearly point it out -- title, section, and chapter. I'll gladly wash my hands of the project if it is. To the best of my knowledge, the contract clause in the EULA that we're talking about is unlawful. If there is something else, then for any SOE lurkers, please do us all a favor and SPIT IT OUT already. I'm sick of the innuendo and the unsubstantiated allegations. So SUBSTANTIATE IT ALREADY. I'm an honest guy at heart, and if you have a valid case, just make it and be done with it. If you can cite and quote any laws that EQEmu is violating, do it. I'll be the first to admonish the dev team and walk in that case. I certainly won't have anything to do with this project if it indeed is breaking the law.

WC

[Shadow-Wolf]

nice job wind, are you done with your little break yet? =P. AAAAANNNNNDDD for you people calling SOE money grubbers because they charge 12.95 a month of fees for a user per month when people need to realize that this money goes twards server costs, staff costs, and other things, for a long time the monthly fee gets the company nowhere, infact it only HELPS the cost of servers and other things so the company still pays money so you can slay gnolls with your leet rusty dagger. It may take a while but sooner or later the company will make a profit from the game but it does take a while.