Valve due in court over refusal to allow resale of digital games

It's been over a year since I first covered the EU legal ruling that companies were required to allow their customers to resell digital software purchases and here in mid-2013, we're not really much closer to making that a reality. However, now Valve, one of the biggest opponents of the ruling, is set for a day in court after a German consumer advocacy group announced it had filed a claim against the Steam platform owner.

The group is called Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband (VZBV) and it tackles everything from food labelling issues, to adverts aimed at children, but in this instance it's going after Vavle, for its outright refusal to recognise the European ruling.

I think we've all got alot of games we don't play any more

As of yet, there is no trial date set, but the group hopes it will take place some time this year. Even with the threat of a court day looming though, it isn't expecting Valve to make any brash changes to its policies.

“But our chance to win the process is very good and that will be really an improvement for consumers: then they can sell their games to others,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

KitGuru Says: It would certainly change the digital gaming environment if Valve was forced to allow Steam users to sell on their digital games. It would probably make a lot of money from it too, if it took a cut alongside the original developers.

[Thanks GameOn]

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