Xbox User Claims Microsoft Owes Him $500 Billion
In what amounts to one of the more peculiar stories to come out of this month, a Arkansas man is demanding $500 billion dollars from Microsoft as a default arbitration award after amending their terms of service.
Mind you, this is no lawsuit. As far as this man is concerned, he’s already legally entitled to this money. How could that be? With legal trickery of the highest order.
According to seattlepi.com, David Stebbins initiated this heretofore unilateral legal battle with a shockingly clever revelation. Since the Xbox Live TOS is a standard contract, it binds both the user and Microsoft equally. From this legal fact, Stebbin extrapolated that he was, technically, just as capable of changing the terms of service as Microsoft.
To enforce his “unilateral” changes, he would need Microsoft to agree to them; so he sent off his amendments with a notice that “if Microsoft did not terminate his Xbox Live membership , such changes would take effect in 10 days.”
Microsoft did nothing in the ten days and Stebbins, confident that they had agreed to the new terms, dispatched an arbitration notice to Microsoft to negotiate his new claim that he was owed $500 billion in damages. In the notice Stebbins included a “forfeit victory clause”, which dictated that if Microsoft did not reply within 24 hours he would be automatically entitled to the full sum of 500 Billion dollars.
It should be mentioned that this has all taken place outside of the legal system thus far. When Stebbin’s motion demanding validation gets through the system it will likely not endure even a passing glance from a legal professional.
However, this roundabout legal attack on Microsoft does make a profound comment on the nature of contracts in the digital age. More and more they have transformed from a give-and-take agreement between two equals into a set of mandates composed by one party with no attention paid to the will of the other.
Because corporations like Microsoft and Apple have products consumers desire, it’s easy for these contracts to resemble edicts. However, they are not edicts in the American legal system and actions like those of David Stebbins should be lauded for keeping us appraised of that fact.
I…he….500 billion? It…they….
http://i.imgur.com/Yggqx.jpg
microsoft can just send their army of lawyers if they want to.
Man, this guy REALLY needs to take a Law class or something =P. I’m no expert either, but I’m pretttyyyy sure that a signiture is required somewhere in this equation =P.
E-signature, bro. I think the whole thing is bullshit, too, obviously, but never underestimate what clicking “accept” bind you to legally.
Ewwww, you’re right! It’s crazy how much technology is influencing our lives nowadays. Some people can get pretty screwed without even realizing they did anything wrong.
Yup. That’s why that whole Human Cent-I-pede South Park episode was oddly spot on. No one ever reads terms and conditions, but the fact is, publishers and developers can put whatever the hell they want in there, and if you “agree” to it online, you’re just as legally bound to it if you had physically signed your name on it. It’s sort of scary!
Large corporations pull exactly these same maneuvers on consumers all the time. He’s making a point. Hope the point isn’t lost on people just because he’s making the point by contract-trolling for 500 billion.
did anyone actually read the TOS for the nintendo 3ds? i can’t tell if i even own the damn thing or if it still belongs to nintendo.