Archives for lawsuit category
Erik Estavillo. The man who has tried and failed to sue Sony, who is now suing Microsoft and Nintendo has subpoenaed Bill Gates. Estavillo has subpoenaed Bill Gates in conjunction with the law suit he filed earlier this month where he complained that the Red Ring of Death had caused him “undue stress.” He is suing Microsoft for $75,000 for causing that “undue stress.”
The subpoena requests that Bill Gates himself to bring “documents pertaining to the true and relative number of actual Xbox 360 units that have been fixed by Microsoft over the past 3 years.” Estavillo also wants “statistical data” on how many bans for Piracy there were in the last month, on top of how many consoles have been affected by the RROD over the last three years.
Estavillo says he doesn’t plan to sue anymore companies after this and that we can “quote him on that.” We’ll just wait and see about that Mr Estavillo.
Microsoft’s Gates Subpoenaed in RROD Suit [Game Politics]
Posted on December 1st, 2009 at 6:48pm by Kreyg
Filed Under: Bill Gates, Erik Estavillo, Main, Subpoena, lawsuit
In a news story that we’re sure will surprise precisely nobody at all, The9 — China’s previous operator for World of Warcraft — has reported a serious decline in profits for this last quarter. Since last year when The9 still had World of Warcraft in its stable of games to now, they have seen a staggering 94% drop in revenue. Since the split became final in June of this year, there was also a 91% drop between last quarter and this one. Between The9’s lawsuit against Blizzard for (among other things) software copyright infringement and selling nearly 15% of its shares to Activision Blizzard competitor, EA, The9 has pretty well ensured that there’s never going to be any kissing-and-making-up over this whole mess.
Still, not everything is completely negative for The9. In the on-again-off-again World of Warcraft presence in the Chinese market altogether, owing to the squabble between The Ministry of Culture and the General Administration of the Press and Publication (GAPP), they’ve seen an increase in players from when they initially lost World of Warcraft. According to reports, the increase — a modest bump from 3.2 to 3.4 million players — is owing largely to a new update to Soul of the Ultimate Nation, as well as their other games Sword of the New World, FIFA Online, and Atlantica Online. Now, so long as more of their shareholders don’t wind up suing them for making misleading statements about their connection with Blizzard, things might just start looking up for this former major player in the Chinese MMO market.
Filed under: World of Warcraft, MMO industry, News items, Legal
The9 sees enormous drop in profits after split with Blizzard originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 29 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on November 29th, 2009 at 12:00pm by Krystalle Voecks
Filed Under: WoW, activision-blizzard, blizzard, china, ea, lawsuit, legal-problems, profits, the9, world-of-warcraft, year-on-year, year-over-year, yoy
After being banned from the PlayStation Network for hateful comments stated in Resistance’s online community, Erik Estavillo launched not one, but two, lawsuits against Sony for infringing on his “first amendment rights” — an argument that was shot down by Judge Ronald Whyte simply because “Sony is not part of the government.”
However, what Estavillo lacks in civil online discourse, he makes up for with sheer determination and persistence. In addition to Sony, he now has both Microsoft and Nintendo in his sights. Estavillo is seeking $75,000 from Microsoft for the “undue stress” and “sadness” caused by his Xbox 360’s RROD. “Microsoft should have to bear the burden that is now put on the shoulders of this disabled plaintiff,” his claim states — a burden that is equivalent to the sum of 375 Xbox 360 systems, apparently. Nintendo is being sued for interfering with Estavillo’s “pursuit of happiness.” And how exactly is Nintendo doing that? “Deleting, blocking or prohibiting the Homebrew Channel and Ocarina applications” via a system update.
We’re hoping you can see the sheer brilliance of Estavillo’s strategy. He’s offering the perfect opportunity for PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo fans to agree on something for once.
Banned PSN player sues Nintendo and Microsoft originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on November 20th, 2009 at 8:30pm by Andrew Yoon
Filed Under: Erik Estavillo, Nintendo, Xbox 360, homebrew, lawsuit, microsoft, rrod
After having is case against Sony for being banned from PSN was tossed in the trash, it looks like Erik Estavillo is at it again. This time he is targeting both Microsoft and Nintendo. This guy sure does love to sue people.
Estavillo plans on suing Microsoft for the RROD(red ring of death) his Xbox has received. Estavillo says that being disabled, he can’t afford to pay the “well over $100″ fee to get his system fixed and can’t afford purchasing a new one. Estavillo feels “that Microsoft should have to bear the burden that is now put on the shoulders of this disabled plaintiff.” Microsoft is being sued for $75,000 for the “undue stress” Erik has undergone since his 360 bit the dust.
As for Nintendo, he’s pissed off at suing them because a system update blocked his homebrew channel. He used the channel so he could unlock characters in Mario Kart Wii. He states that the only way to unlock a single character in Mario Kart Wii is to own Super Mario Galaxy.
Estavillo said, “In essence, Nintendo is forcing customers to buy another game to unlock one character in a different game.” He only wants $5,000 from Nintendo for interfering in his “pursuit of happiness.” He is also seeking an injunction to stop Nintendo from “deleting, blocking or prohibiting the Homebrew Channel and Ocarina applications.”
What a mess huh? Estavillo has said he suffers from obsessive -compulsive disorder along with many other conditions. Let me tell you, we could tell, someone seems a little obsessed with suing video game companies.
Banned Resistance Gamer Targets MS and NOA in Latest Suits [Game Politics]
Posted on November 20th, 2009 at 6:53am by Kreyg
Filed Under: Erik Estavillo, Main, Micrsoft, News, Nintendo, PS3, Sue, Suing, Wii, Xbox 360, court, featured, hot, lawsuit, legal
Boutique law firm AbingtonIP is “investigating” what it considers the “convenient” recent Xbox Live bannings. The firm posits that the “tens of thousands” of banned Xbox Live subscribers who used modded consoles deserve recompense due to the timing of the action. The firm believes that said timing — i.e., after Halo 3: ODST and shortly before Modern Warfare 2’s releases — was executed to net Microsoft as much money as possible out of potential Xbox Live subscribers before banning the modded devices. The class action lawsuit would attempt to obtain a refund for the prorated sums left on the banned Xbox Live subscriptions.
According to Joystiq legal columnist Mark Methenitis’ analysis: “To me, this certainly sounds a lot like a cash grab directed at a company with deep pockets, but perhaps there are more facts than they are letting on.” He explains that a user savvy enough to have a modded console would also know not to connect it to Live without “serious risk.” Methenitis concludes, “If, in fact, Microsoft is inducing people to buy a service only to terminate them, then there’s certainly a deceptive business practice concern. But this seems far more cut and dry than that.”
[Thanks, C. Carl Carlston]
Firm considers class action over Xbox Live bannings originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on November 19th, 2009 at 2:01pm by Alexander Sliwinski
Filed Under: Banned, abingtonip, banning, class-action, law, lawsuit, mark-methenitis, xbl, xbox-live, xbox-live-bannings
