Poster: Blaen at 2007-08-24 01:45:31
Subject: EULA - Legally you can 'sell' accounts |
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I cant find the original post, but a few days ago there was a post asking if it is against the EULA to trade your account. The blue posters wrongly stated that it is illegal. However as section (3) from the primary EULA clearly states this is not the case:
Q u o t e:
EULA - 2nd February 2007
3. Ownership.
A. All title, ownership rights and intellectual property rights in and to the Game and all copies thereof (including without limitation any titles, computer code, themes, objects, characters, character names, stories, dialog, catch phrases, locations, concepts, artwork, character inventories, structural or landscape designs, animations, sounds, musical compositions and recordings, audio-visual effects, storylines, character likenesses, methods of operation, moral rights, and any related documentation) are owned or licensed by Blizzard. The Game is protected by the copyright laws of the United States, international treaties and conventions, and other laws. The Game may contain materials licensed by third parties, and the licensors of those materials may enforce their rights in the event of any violation of this License Agreement.
B. You may permanently transfer all of your rights and obligations under the License Agreement to another by physically transferring the original media (e.g., the CD-ROM or DVD you purchased), all original packaging, and all Manuals or other documentation distributed with the Game; provided, however, that you permanently delete all copies and installations of the Game in your possession or control, and that the recipient agrees to the terms of this License Agreement. The transferor (i.e., you), and not Blizzard, agrees to be solely responsible for any taxes, fees, charges, duties, withholdings, assessments, and the like, together with any interest, penalties, and additions imposed in connection with such transfer.
Section (B) enables account transfers but does not expressly prohibit monetary tranfers as part of the agreed account and original media transferance. Indeed the only caveat is that the account must be transferred from the original owner along with all physical media, i.e. the CD's/DVD's and boxes and that upon completion of the transfer the original owner must remove all installations of the game from their computers.
However I think is important to note why our EU CM's are confused. The actual agreement we are all bound to, regarding section (3), is the one found here: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/eula.html, which you will note is exactly as specified above regarding legality of transfers. This is the primary agreement that we accepted when the game was installed/patched and so is the only binding agreement we have with Blizzard where conflicts arise with secondary EULA's due to developer ToA's superceding secondary ToA's.
The CM's confusion arises because the EU website and EU client has it's own scondary version of the EULA: http://www.wow-europe.com/en/legal/eula.html, however it should be noted that due to conflicts within the two ToA section 3B's, this secondary EULA is superceded by the primary ToA as stated by the developers within the above mentioned paragraph.
From a legal perspective, the priori EULA stated by the developers, i.e. the one found upon the US website and the primary ToA we agree to upon installation supercedes any EU ToA's where they are in direct conflict. Indeed secondary EULA's are to provide additonal ToA's for specific localities and legally cannot replace sections of the primary EULA without those changes being agreed upon within the primary EULA. Therefore due to conflicts with section 3B, Blizzard EU upon deleting an account solely based upon discovery of transfer of ownership would actually be the party conducting an illegal action because this is in conflict with the developers ToA.
I hope this has clarified the actual legality involved with account transfers.
[ Post edited by Blaen ]
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| | http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=612161351&pageNo=1&sid=1#0 | | |
Poster: Thundgot at 2007-08-24 01:45:31
Subject: Re: EULA - Legally you can 'sell' accounts |
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As everybody else commented already, it refers to the box and its content, not the game account. For the rules concerning the account, refer to the Terms of Use: http://www.wow-europe.com/en/legal/termsofuse.html
Working, as intended.
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| | http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=612161351&pageNo=1&sid=1#8 |
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