PlayStation believes "reasonable consumers would not be misled" by its current disclosures

With the end of physical PlayStation games looming, the need for clear digital ownership rights is more pressing than ever.

For its part, Sony believes your rights are very clear: you do not own your digital games, and it’s unlikely you’re stupid enough to believe otherwise. At least, that’s roughly the argument the company’s lawyers are presenting in response to a proposed class-action lawsuit.

Sony argues that its current customer-facing disclosures ensure that “reasonable consumers would not be misled” into believing they actually own their digital games. That’s according to a Game File report (paid article link) citing an August 21 filing Sony’s lawyers made in California’s Northern District.

    • danc4498@lemmy.worldEnglish
      38·
      3 days ago

      Good point. Don’t say we’re buying it. They use the terminology of ownership when you’re paying money.

    • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
      28·
      3 days ago

      Actually this is an alright solution.

      They should be forced to change the name of their platform if they want to keep using it. They should be barred from using the term “store”.

      They can either continue their business model as is, (as “PlayStation Leasing”) or they can change their policy to include full ownership of games and the right to transfer the games they own to other accounts.

      But they don’t get to call it a “store” or use words like “buy” or “sale” if that’s not what they’re actually offering.

      • [email protected]@lemmy.zipEnglish
        8·
        3 days ago

        They should be barred from using the term “store”.

        While I agree with the intent, this would definitely be a losing legal argument, since “store” has a long and common history of usage for rental outlets (“hey, let’s go to the video store tonight and rent a movie”). I think that not allowing them to use the terms “buy” and “sale” could stand as a legal argument, since I don’t believe that there are any examples of people using them when they mean to rent something.

        • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
          1·
          16 hours ago

          (“hey, let’s go to the video store tonight and rent a movie”)

          Well that’s interesting. I’ve never actually heard someone call it that. I mean, I get your point, but actually, if anything I think people tended to call it the rental shop.

          But then, even at video rental places they at least did also sell things, movies and candy. So even if they did call themselves a store, those rental places would actually qualify more as a store than a digital content distributor would.

          • [email protected]@lemmy.zipEnglish
            1·
            16 hours ago

            I understand that it was likely not the same in every English-speaking place (rental shop makes it sound like you may be in the UK?), but it was very common usage in the US. It was also used this way even for video rental places that pretty much did nothing else other than rent videos. I don’t know what the origin of this usage was though.

            The point that I’m making is that in the eyes of a theoretical jury or judge, this example would be an easy way to demonstrate that “store” didn’t imply that you were actually buying the items in it. Like I said, I agree with the intent, but just don’t think it would fly legally. But who knows, I’m not a lawyer!

            I do sincerely hope that if it were to come to the point where a court agrees that consumers are not actually “buying” the items, that they will force the vendors to stop using the terms “buy”, “sale”, and “purchase”. But who am I kidding, that probably won’t happen.

            • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
              2·
              16 hours ago

              Oh no, I’m from the US, East Coast. I’ve literally never heard anyone say rental store. But that’s fine, doesn’t really matter.

              You could still be right, it would probably be possible to convince a judge that this is just common usage. That said, it might be worth trying anyway. You never get any change if you don’t try. And we have the slight advantage of being right.

              • [email protected]@lemmy.zipEnglish
                1·
                13 hours ago

                I see, it could be a West vs. East Coast US thing. Although the example I was talking about was “video store”, used very casually between friends and relatives, etc.

                Thanks a good point. Worth trying it anyway!