Changing a lifetime membership to a non-lifetime without permission.

[RobertHaggstrom]

Hi.

Back in 2013 I signed a membership to a website called "Demonbuddy".
A membership that they called "Lifetime", but when I got the confirmation email it said: "This Key has 1 Sessions and lasts 3600 Days from the time of first use."

Demonbuddy is a program that you use to run a bot in a online game.
Using a bot is not allowed by the creator of the game (Blizzard Entertainment), and might result in you getting your account banned. But that is a risk that the user (me) takes, and knows about.

The thing is that "Demonbuddy" got some money issues, and decided to change all their Lifetime accounts into regular accounts that only lasts for a few months.
So instead of having 3600 days of usage, I got merely 700 days.

From what I´ve read on their forums, there is 1000´s of customers who have bought a lifetime membership, and now got screwed over.


Is this legal to do?
Is there anything I can do about it?

 

[adjusterjack]

Is this legal to do?
Is there anything I can do about it?

Depends.

What does your contract say?

You know, the Terms of Service that you agreed to when you bought the membership.

Did you read them then?

Have you read them now?

They will answer your question.

 

[quincy]

Hi.

Back in 2013 I signed a membership to a website called "Demonbuddy".
A membership that they called "Lifetime", but when I got the confirmation email it said: "This Key has 1 Sessions and lasts 3600 Days from the time of first use."

Demonbuddy is a program that you use to run a bot in a online game.
Using a bot is not allowed by the creator of the game (Blizzard Entertainment), and might result in you getting your account banned. But that is a risk that the user (me) takes, and knows about.

The thing is that "Demonbuddy" got some money issues, and decided to change all their Lifetime accounts into regular accounts that only lasts for a few months.
So instead of having 3600 days of usage, I got merely 700 days.

From what I´ve read on their forums, there is 1000´s of customers who have bought a lifetime membership, and now got screwed over.


Is this legal to do?
Is there anything I can do about it?

What is the name of your state, Robert, or if not in the US, what is the name of your country?

 

[quincy]

... From what I´ve read on their forums, there is 1000´s of customers who have bought a lifetime membership, and now got screwed over.


Is this legal to do?
Is there anything I can do about it?

Although I am thinking you might be in Germany and not in the US, I might as well address this now.

The German-based company Bossland GMBH, responsible for the gaming bot operator Demonbuddy and others of its ilk, has been permanently enjoined by order of a US District Court in California from engaging in its previous illegal activities. A judgment was entered for Blizzard Entertainment, with an award for copyright infringement totaling $8,740,235.41.

The statutory damages awarded ($200/violation) were $8,563,600, and attorney fees totaled $174,872, and costs were awarded in the amount of $1763.41.

See: Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. v. Bossland GMBH; Does 1-10, Case No. 8:16-cv-01236-DOC-KES, US District Court, C.D. Cal, March 31, 2017.

It is clear from the decision that it was not Demonbuddy et al and their customers who were "screwed" but rather it was Blizzard Entertainment who had been screwed out of millions by those who chose to ignore the Blizzard terms of use and chose to ignore the law.

I see no legal action for you to take. I only see a legal action that could be taken against you, if Blizzard had any desire to go after the little fish after catching the big one.

Are you in the US?

 

[RobertHaggstrom]

I´m not in US, UK or Germany.

I know that using a bot is against Blizzards rules, and I´m aware of the risk.

I´m not going to take any legal actions in any way. Never really planned to do so.
I´m just curious to know if they can do this?
I´ve skimmed through the Terms and Conditions as they are right now, and I can´t find anything there.
I don´t know how they were written back in 2013 though.

 

[quincy]

I´m not in US, UK or Germany.

I know that using a bot is against Blizzards rules, and I´m aware of the risk.

I´m not going to take any legal actions in any way. Never really planned to do so.
I´m just curious to know if they can do this?
I´ve skimmed through the Terms and Conditions as they are right now, and I can´t find anything there.
I don´t know how they were written back in 2013 though.

The problem with the Demonbuddy bots and Bossland's other operations is not only do they violate Blizzard terms and conditions - which for violations of most website rules would result in nothing more than a banning of the violator and the cancellation of the violator's account - but Demonbuddy bots and Bossland have also violated the US Copyright Act, specifically the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's (DMCA) prohibition on producing, marketing, or selling technology that circumvents software protections.

When you are dealing with a company whose business plan involves violating the law, no one who is involved with the company in whatever role should be surprised when they find themselves screwed by the company. So, to answer your question, yes, Demonbuddy can do what it did to its customers because it was operating outside the law anyway ... and the customers were aware of (at least some of) the risks of using the bots.

FreeAdvice handles US laws only, though, and what you might be able to do about Demonbuddy in your own unnamed country is something I can't tell you. But I can tell you that violating the rules of any game does not make you a winner if you win. It makes you a cheater - and, in the case of Blizzard games and bots, a potential (albeit unlikely) target of an infringement suit.