Law Firm Trying To Cash In On XBL Bans

A law firm is trying to get a class action law suit against Microsoft started for banning modded consoles from XBL. Good luck with that.

As has been reported widely in the media, tens of thousands of Xbox owners have had their modified Xbox consoles banned from Microsoft's online gaming service Xbox Live. Although modification of Xbox consoles is *arguably* against the terms of use for Xbox/Xbox Live, Microsoft "conveniently" timed the Xbox console ban to coincide with the release of the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 game and less than two months after the release of the very popular Halo 3: ODST game.

Look, we all know how a class action suit works, 95% of the money goes to the lawyers and 5% gets divided by the 20,000 plaintiffs and that's why these guys started sniffing around like this but still.

Oh well, 95% of nothing is still nothing and that is where this case is heading.

Yeah I don't know if they have a leg to stand on. We'll see what happens....

If this goes all the way and wins, I'll put a bra and panties on and pull a Steve pose.

I'm pretty sure the army of Microsoft lawyers looked in to all implications before the big red button was pushed.

Sounds like a bunch of lawyer's whiny spoiled children cried when their accounts were banned and complained to daddy who said they'll take it to court for them.

Isn't there a clause in the TOS where it says that to connect to xbox live, the xbox in question must meet microsoft's requirements. In this case, no modded xbox.

I understand if you got banned for not having a modded xbox, but I haven't seen any cases like this yet.

Originally Posted by mashie

I'm pretty sure the army of Microsoft lawyers looked in to all implications before the big red button was pushed.

I'm pretty sure they didn't because they're Microsoft. But then again, they have the best lawyers in the universe.

Their argument isn't the act of banning, but the lack of reimbursement for those who aren't going to get a new "legit" 360 and use their Live account that they already paid for.

It's a small weak leg but it's still something to stand on as oppose to suing Microsoft for just the act of banning the console due to the console violating the TOS.

I believe this suit would be better served if it also pointed out the script that corrupts the user's Profile while also disabling HDD function ability for installing games to the drive.

Granted I feel that those who do the crime if caught must do the the time, this suit could actually get far due to the already strong lack of understanding of electronics and their uses within the court system.

It really depends on how serious the lawyers on each side are about this. :P

Originally Posted by Daemas

I'm pretty sure they didn't because they're Microsoft. But then again, they have the best lawyers in the universe.

Really?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10245764-56.html

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10...?tag=mncol;txt

They may have good attorneys, but they're hardly the best in the universe.

play with fire...... get burned.

Everyone that modded their xbox knew there was a consequence. Seriously, playing COD4:MW2 2 months before the release.... come on, it's inevitable that a hash would happen to keep the playing field even.

They'll settle the lawsuit just because it's cheaper to pay out a couple million bucks than to go to court and have the negative PR.

That is exactly what the lawyers are hoping for.

I love the whole bit about how they suspect MS timed this. Of course they timed it. Fortunately for them they can ban modded Xbox's any damn time they want. It's not like they have to sit around and wait for the best time to do a banning. If anything they can always argue that a big round of banning before the holidays will help with keeping the community in check during the massive holiday rush that always happens.

Ahh lawyers... good times indeed. Have fun getting countersued.

As far as I'm concerned, anyone who connected to Live with a flashed console deserves to get a ban from Live. These people knew what they were doing, and knew that it was against the TOS for the service. On the other hand, what they didn't deserve is to get random bits of functionality that are completely unrelated to Live yanked from them. Does it say in the TOS for Live that if you get a Live ban they will also kill your HTC options, kill your save games, and turn off other functions at their leisure? Live is Live, and Microsoft can do what they want with it. The 360 itself has functionality that has nothing to do with Live, that those customers paid for. Microsoft has no right to randomly turn stuff off for an unrelated offense.

Originally Posted by kirbyrj

They'll settle the lawsuit just because it's cheaper to pay out a couple million bucks than to go to court and have the negative PR.

That is exactly what the lawyers are hoping for.

^ +1

In fact, I can see them dropping the suit altogether if MS does decide to actually go to trial.

Originally Posted by kirbyrj

They'll settle the lawsuit just because it's cheaper to pay out a couple million bucks than to go to court and have the negative PR.

That is exactly what the lawyers are hoping for.

Ding ding ding!

They I hope they don't settle, no company or person should be forced to settle if they are in the right.

When lawsuits like this lose and are deemed frivolous, the lawyers taking the case should be PERSONALLY responsible for taking the case.

Would see a sharp decline in these type cases until lawyers started covering their costs by raising their already astronomical prices on their winning cases to cover(and get more money anyway)

Oh yeah, forgot to add.

Can I sue the gas station because I wasn't able to use all the gas I purchased right before crashing my vehicle?

Can I sue the bank for repossessing my vehicle and not being able to use the gas I put into it, or wear down the new tires? I want those tires back, they were not a part of the loan I got!

When Comcast terminates my connection because I went over their 250GB bandwidth cap, can I sue them because I can't access subscription based MMO games or XBL?

When my Dell computer dies on me, can I sue Dell because I couldn't do online banking and missed a payment?

So fraking silly, people. When a service requires a service or a piece of hardware, it is NOT the hardware manufacture's or the service providers responsibility or liability if you cannot access the other service. In this instance it just happens to be MS is the provider of both, that does not make them liable!

And I hate MS!

My friend just bought me dinner last night for convincing him a while back to not mod his Xbox 360 a while back.

Silly people do silly things, stupid people get caught doing stupid things. If you modded your xbox and hoped MS wouldn't catch you, you're stupid. Plain and simple. If you want a modded 360 that bad, buy a used one and mod it, then use the unmodded for the your XBL subscription. Is that too hard to understand?

Oh wait, I forgot, we're talking about stupid people here..... I withdraw the question.

Originally Posted by Inu

My friend just bought me dinner last night for convincing him a while back to not mod his Xbox 360 a while back.

he's really just wanted to unzip your pants for years now.