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Playstation removing previously purchased Discovery content

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Re: Playstation removing previously purchased Discovery content

#171
post #5

> you will no longer be able to watch any of your previously purchased Discovery content and the content will be removed Content you purchased. Their wording. Not content you rented, not license you paid for. They are effectively stealing the content you purchased.

They're not stealing anything. People should read the legal contracts they sign or to which they otherwise agree. Streaming services typically include a clause about the right to remove content for any reason and regardless of who has purchased it. This is exactly why their courtesy notice doesn't include a word about refunds and a perfect example of the serious societal problem of people having a knee-jerk reaction…

Lawyers and judges themselves don’t read the fine print and it would take an inordinate amount of time for people to read the fine print of every service they were offered. Nobody has time to do such things.

Which is precisely why the courts tend to view misleadingly offering something for sale in the advertisement, and then adding contradictory conditions to that sale in the fine print, as just defrauding their customers. This blame the consumer mentality is impractical, unworkable, and legally wrong.

Re: Playstation removing previously purchased Discovery content

#172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe you license physical media, but I don't. I purchase it and do with it as I please under the fair use laws of the United States.

Unfortunately, this is not the case with physical media that contains licensed material. IF a case were pursued, you would likely pay whatever penalty without any real contest (like 99% of criminals who attempt an insanity plea).

https://www.justice.gov/archives/jm/criminal-resource-manual...

>> "The first sale doctrine, codified at 17 U.S.C. § 109, provides that an individual who knowingly purchases a copy of a copyrighted work from the copyright holder receives the right to sell, display or otherwise dispose of that particular copy, notwithstanding the interests of the copyright owner. The right to distribute ends, however, once the owner has sold that particular copy. See 17 U.S.C. § 109(a) & (c). Since the first sale doctrine never protects a defendant who makes unauthorized reproductions of a copyrighted work, the first sale doctrine cannot be a successful defense in cases that allege infringing reproduction."

Re: Playstation removing previously purchased Discovery content

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Read your own article. The byline reads: > Google is taking the unprecedented step of paying back users for all the games they bought on its cloud gaming platform. Google _voluntarily_ refunded their customers. It's unheard of and was, frankly, extremely unexpected. Good for Google and good for Stadia customers.

Voluntary refunds like this are often the result of a risk assessment. What is the risk to their brand, what is their risk legally. One could argue that they only did this to avoid damage to their brand and the damage to the industry if it had become the catalyst to laws changing around content licensing. I hope PlayStation does not refund customers and that this is the catalyst we need to change content licensing to…

This already happened with Canal content on the PlayStation video store a few years back (and that unquestionably affected orders of magnitudes more customers).

Nothing will change about this legally, nor the vast majority of customers seemingly care very much.

Re: Playstation removing previously purchased Discovery content

#174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Read your own article. The byline reads: > Google is taking the unprecedented step of paying back users for all the games they bought on its cloud gaming platform. Google _voluntarily_ refunded their customers. It's unheard of and was, frankly, extremely unexpected. Good for Google and good for Stadia customers.

In the same article it points out microsoft also refunded their ebooks when they deleted content people bought. Assuming these were sold as a perpetual licence (and by the wording Sony used it looks like they were), by removing the content they are in breach of contract, that gets expensive and messy quickly, quicker easier and cheaper just to refund them. There is obviously some kind of legal disagreement happening…

The terms will have said the license was perpetual for downloads made but only five years for redownload or streaming, as do the terms for iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube's store, Vudu and every significant player in the market.

Re: Playstation removing previously purchased Discovery content

#175
post #5

> you will no longer be able to watch any of your previously purchased Discovery content and the content will be removed Content you purchased. Their wording. Not content you rented, not license you paid for. They are effectively stealing the content you purchased.

From Louis Rossmann on YouTube: "If paying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing." (shamelessly copied from the top comment on /r/piracy on this very subject)

You should tell that to the cops after you rent a car and refuse to return it. I’ll make the popcorn.

Re: Playstation removing previously purchased Discovery content

#176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s never been about whether piracy was stealing or not. It’s about what the courts have to say on the matter. Find yourself on the wrong end of a big copyright case and your life gets ruined, regardless of what word you use to describe it.

> It’s never been about whether piracy was stealing or not. It’s about what the courts have to say on the matter. Find yourself on the wrong end of a big copyright case and your life gets ruined, regardless of what word you use to describe it. How many individuals have actually had their lives ruined, outside a very small number of people like Alexandra Elbakyan? Plenty of companies have been shutdown over the matter…

I was sued and lost a lot of money. It made my life very difficult at that time and I regret my actions. I did learn a lot about the legal system and the industry, and it inspired me to get a law degree and license, so it wasn’t all for naught.

Re: Playstation removing previously purchased Discovery content

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From Louis Rossmann on YouTube: "If paying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing." (shamelessly copied from the top comment on /r/piracy on this very subject)

You should tell that to the cops after you rent a car and refuse to return it. I’ll make the popcorn.

[deleted]

Re: Playstation removing previously purchased Discovery content

#178
This and things like inheritance when someone passes away are things that will have to be regulated since we can’t trust these companies to do the right thing.

Allowing people to download what they purchased and allowing account transfers to your kids when you pass away should become legal rights.

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