Microsoft forbids class actions in new Windows licence

i have watched all of star trek except one series which i am halfway though now, and i don't recognize that reference. please enlighten us.

greetings, eMBee.

I can't help wondering how legal this actually is. Isn't there a legal concept of "unconscionable" terms (ie. no one would willingly accept them if their was an credible choice).

edit: yes, that appears to be the term I was thinking of

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconscionability

AFAICT a license can't put more restrictions than the law provides for. It can only start from "all rights reserved (those that indeed are reserved)" and relax some of them. So this clause is clearly null and void but Microsoft puts it in the license anyway in the hope that uninformed public will obey. I think at least half of the Windows EULA is written that way. IANAL, of course :)

This is not legally possible. At least in Europe. Even if I am a law student, I know next to nothing about Anglo-Saxon law.

Quoting:i have watched all of star trek except one series which i am halfway though now, and i don't recognize that reference. please enlighten us.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Return_of_the_Archons

While the quote does not appear on the Wikipedia page, it is a nice summary of the episode.

Forbidding class actions doesn't forbid Federal and State Justice Dept. action,... It's still a pipe dream of mine...

> I can't help wondering how legal this actually is.

Having the clause in the EULA is almost certainly legal. The question is whether or not it's enforceable.

Fortunately, US courts don't recognize Microsoft's right to limit their purview.

@jdixon: I don't think you're right on this. The change in the EULA was a result of a specific U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that does, in fact, allow companies to have license agreements which bar class action lawsuits. This is based entirely in U.S. law as it stands today.

Yep. Caitlyn's right...

@DrGeoffrey:

Ah yes, Landru.

Shame we cannot convince Windows 8 that it is "... wrong and the [users] are being kept as uncreative slaves."

Perhaps it would then self-destruct and dawn a new era of creativity and choice.

> ...in fact, allow companies to have license agreements which bar class action lawsuits...

Not quite. It bars the user who agrees to the license terms from participating in the class action lawsuit. Anyone who hasn't agreed to the license is still free to sue them, and even request class action status.

How the court would handle that, I have no idea. Issues of standing would seem to be the primary consideration, but if say a teenager was the user but the parent had never agreed to the license, that would probably work.

I'm not an attorney so I can't argue the points, jdixon. I am pretty sure Microsoft has a large staff of sharp attorneys and most teenagers do not.

> I am pretty sure Microsoft has a large staff of sharp attorneys and most teenagers do not.

I'm sure they do. So does Oracle. It only takes one good lawyer on the other side. And there are lots of good lawyers with teenage children.

M$ license traps are not unusual. One thing that annoys me about the SCOTUS decision is that it favors only businesses where contracts are used. How would McDonald's get a consumer to agree to a anti-class action term? Use a burger wrapper as a shrink-wrap license?

> Use a burger wrapper as a shrink-wrap license?

Don't give them ideas.

I think Mayor McCheese may be an attorney.

I wouldn't use Microsoft's electronic licenses to line the virtual cage of my Twitterer.

*ptui*

@caitlyn: "assimilation" is a politically loaded term and hence against the TOS.

?The change in the EULA was a result of a specific U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that does, in fact, allow companies to have license agreements which bar class action lawsuits. This is based entirely in U.S. law as it stands today."

Seriously? That sucks!

I guess those special "information seminars"/issue-centric conferences that judges get to attend in sunny climes really are a good investment (for Big Business, not the citizenry).

<sigh> Now it's my turn for an "Oh geez... "

Assimilation has been used to the point where it is now trite, while more obscure references to blind faith still offer the potential for impact.