EA Hit with Class Action Lawsuit over Spore DRM

Plaintiff alleges EA of misleading customers by not disclosing the SecuROM copy protection software.

By Kris Pigna, 09/24/2008

With all the vitriol surrounding Spore's DRM, it was only a matter of time before lawyers got involved. Courthouse News Service reports (via Shacknews) that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Electronic Arts in federal court, which alleges the company defrauds its customers by not disclosing the installation of SecuROM copy protection as part of Spore's installation.

Interestingly, while the most vocal complaints regarding Spore's DRM have focused on the ways it limits the use of the game, this lawsuit is concerned with the fact that it exists at all. "Although consumers are told that the game uses access control and copy protection technology, consumers are not told that this technology is actually an entirely separate, stand-alone program which will download, install and operate on their computers along with the Spore download," the complaint reads (you can read the full PDF document here).

"Consumers are given no control, rights or options over SecuROM," the complaint continues. "The program is uninstallable. Once installed, it becomes a permanent part of the consumer's software portfolio. Even if the consumer uninstalls Spore and entirely deletes it from their computer, SecuROM remains a fixture in their computer unless and until the consumer completely wipes their hard drive through reformatting or replacement of the drive."

The complaint also argues that the copy protection software is "secretly installed to the command and control center of the computer (Ring 0, or the Kernal), and surreptitiously operated, overseeing function and operation on the computer, preventing the computer from operating under certain circumstances and/or disrupting hardware operations." What these certain circumstances and hardware operations are, however, are not detailed.

The lawsuit was filed by Melissa Thomas "on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated." Thomas is represented by Alan Himmelfarb, of KamberEdelson of Vernon, California, and New York. The lawsuit is seeking payments for "actual damages, statutory damages, punitive or treble damages, and other such relief as provided by the statutes cited herein," as well as restitution of legal fees and "relief in the form of restitution and/or disgorgement of all unlawful or illegal profits received by defendant as a result of the unfair, unlawful, and/or deceptive conduct alleged in herein" (you have to love legal writing).

While this lawsuit isn't very surprising considering the controversy Spore has been under for its DRM, it is a bit odd when you consider Spore is far from the first EA game to use SecuROM copy protection -- Mass Effect used the same software before it, and the recently released Crysis: Warhead (as well as the upcoming Red Alert 3) uses it as well.

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Didn't think it would go this far, but more power to them. I don't want EA's crap, but neither do I want to see game companies being sued. That said, I'm very ambivalent towards this case.

In before Twesterm.

I wonder if he will continue to spin that DRM is not hurting paying customers. Well, these customers seem to disagree. And btw twestern just because a problem hasnt affected you, it doesnt mean that it is not there. When RROD got into full swing there were always a few idiots claiming that RROD is not a problem because they are not affected. Well congratulations because then torture is ok because i am not being tortured at the moment.

please win this case and free my pure pc from all the dirty little bugs

please win please. EA needs to learn that DRM isnt the answer as long as you have a great game. Take for example The Witcher. CD Projekt Red doesnt have DRM built in and its selling well due to the fact its an amazing game. The only reason I'm downloading the enhanced edition DVD file is because I can't get the free upgrade patch to work. I own the original and they offer all bonus material for free. So I;m not even pirating the game since it is a free upgrade anyways with the original.

I don't know laws enough, but I do agree that I hope that this is an eye opener for EA and other companies that customers don't want this crap.

What happens if all your games could only be played on your console?

That is exactly what I'm hoping to happen. No company wants to get sued, whether they win or lose. Maybe this will show companies that gamers won't just sit on their asses and there's enough of them to do some damage.

That wont ever happen, There are more then enough indie and PC developers left. Valve will never stop being a PC developer.

Sorry, I wasn't very clear there. I ment if this kind of DRM scenario migrates to console gaming where you purchase your disk games at a retail store and it only works on your console and nobody else's.

In fact, wasn't there some rumor like that about the PS3 very early on? That it would burn some kind of code onto the disk the first time it's played and it would only work on that console?

ya there was but it was an unfounded rumor.

Digital distribution is what will kill off rental/used copies of games but there will still be a minor ability to share the game.