RSSAction Replay maker sues Microsoft for Xbox 360 'predatory technological barriers'
By Tim Conneally | Published November 24, 2009, 12:45 PM
Microsoft's Xbox 360 is no longer compatible with the first -- and only -- third party memory card, Datel's Max Memory, after the distribution of a Dashboard software update. In response, Datel has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft.
"Microsoft has taken steps to render inoperable the competing Datel memory card for no visible purpose other than to have that market entirely to themselves," said Marty Glick, the senior attorney representing Datel. "They accomplished their recent update by making a system change that will not recognize or allow operation of a memory card with greater capacity than their own. We believe that with the power Microsoft enjoys in the market for Xbox accessories this conduct is unlawful."
Datel has made a name for itself by selling "over the counter" device hacks for most of the major video game consoles of the last 20 years, most notably the popular Action Replay system which lets users manipulate game software to enable cheats.
Datel has landed in court over its products many times over the years, both for the Action Replay brand, and for the Game Shark brand which was originally based on Datel's Action Replay licenses. In 1992 Datel went to court with Sega, and in 1999 with Sony. This year, Sony sued Datel again for the PSP Lite Blue battery which enabled "service mode" in the PlayStation Portable.
Few of Datel's products have ever been officially endorsed by gaming companies.
Datel alleges that Microsoft's recent dashboard update was intended to "prevent consumers from choosing a Datel product that offers far better value for the price," and also to "foreclose competition from Datel in the sale of other aftermarket Xbox accessories and in add-ons, including gamepad controllers, through the implementation of predatory technological barriers. These technological barriers do not constitute improvements of the product in any respect, but are rather arbitrary contrivances intended to perpetuate Microsoft's market power."
Memory cards on consoles, ink for printers ... its the same old story.
When you make a console/printer at a loss, you earn your income on the accessories/ink.
Bottom line is you have to decide if you want to keep the consumables competitive for the end user.
I personally think that you do, and if this is the case then you have to allow thirds parties to licence the right to compete. Locking third parties out from competing will keep prices high.
Could be interesting.
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|I've said umpteen times before why does this surprise people when they buy a Microsoft product it's been going on for years! Stay clear!
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|without doubt i do feel datel has a valid point here, "Datel" is not a new company, they have been around for a long time, and is definitely an established name,
microsoft is clearly trying to monopolize the market by intentionally with out any valid reason impeding the freedom of there product,
without doubt this will easily lead to a controversial debate, and will create a double edge sword scenario, however the same thing kind of happened with MS windows product when they intentionally locked out the main "Vista" kernel stopping 3rd party antivirus software from working if i recall correctly some time ago, this in a way is the same thing,
the fact is MS always assumes that the globe surrounds around "America's Law" (for valid reason i suppose) , but this of course is indeed very much there constant Achilles heel, MS want's to sell there products to all countries yet most countries have many laws that defer from USA's policies,
i don't feel that the European trade federation will take this lying down, come to mention it, i also expect that Japan won't take to kindly either, Japan being a great lover for gadgets, and well renowned for there love of innovation,
one thing is for sure, Datel is a well established company, and have been making personal computer accessories long before consoles ever existed (anyone remembers the "Action Replay Mk IV" for the commodore 64) in fact "Datel" could teach Microsoft a thing or too when it comes to memory cards, the proof is in the pudding, the memory cards created from Datel is always far superior compared too the in house versions that have been created, Datel memory cards usually utilize some kind of advance compression software that gives more space for buck (why have 15 memory cards floating around, when you could fit them all on just 2 perhaps 3)
hopefully Datel will also get some backing from governments and trade authorities on this one, for nearly 3 decades (30....years) Datel has been doing these kind of accessories for all that time and now suddenly Microsoft off all companies is now trying to take that freedom away.
i hope Datel get's more support from the government side on this one,
no company should be able to exercise what can and can't be created on a product that the company has sold to the consumer market (as long as no LAWS are being broken),
what next, will they say what can and can't be sold or used on there Windows platform from 3rd party software developers,
just imagine getting an "Error 15462 has been Encountered" pop up on our windows operating system,
what's that error mean we ask, then were told by Microsoft customer service, that the product has not been licensed and can't be installed in windows until such a time the manufacture of the software in question has been given permission to do so.
which ever way you splice this, microsoft should not be allowed to dictate what can and can't be used on there product in this situation, next they'll say what game can and can't be run on it,
"Grand Theft Auto 5" forget it, "MS has barred this game from being run on this console..... we apologize for the inconvenience" ....... yeah, Fu*k Y*u! how do i install this SoftMod people......(democracy and freedom of fair-rights competition and all that....... AKA ModChip, Homebrew anyone....LOL)
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|What are you talking about??? MS has every right to do what they want to their console...Windows and Xbox360 are completely different things. I can't install OSX on my pc, why not? Why is apple artificially limiting me? Why do I have to buy their hardware which is the same as the hardware in my PC just to use their OS? Why don't I hear you cry foul over that...that is a MUCH bigger deal if this is your line of reasoning...but, as you know, apple can do what they want with their OS, and MS can do what they want with their console. You don't like it? Don't buy their product.
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|Once I buy it, it is my console, not "Their console". If I buy on of Datel's products and then Microsoft stops it from working on hardware I paid for I don't care what it says in the EULA, I am going to be angry. That would be like a car company sending out a signal to my car's computer not to run on a certain brand of gas after I just got a tank full of it. If the Datel product causes a real problem, MS can pressure them to recall it. Screwing the users of the XBOX 360 is a good way to alienate their customers. Mind you I don't own either the XBOX 360 or the Datel products in question, this is just my opinion based on my principles.
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|i think if it was clear cut like that then "Datel" wouldn't be taken them to court,
this isn't the 1st time Mircrosoft has tried to do this, in fact they have a tarnished reputation when it comes to fair trade, and fair competition, so i think the courts will look very carefully in this case,
the European law in quite strict in this case, millions of units have been sold in Europe, now suddenly after god knows how many people have brought 3rd party products, then suddenly out of the blue MS changes there stance,
I feel that European law will say to MS that they should of made this stance at the beginning from word go, and not years later after many of there customers have brought many 3rd party products for the Xbox system, is is not fair to there customers to suddenly change a systems working function for no apparent reason other then to cause harm, and potentially monopolize a market.
Microsoft should of made there position clear at the beginning in there policy and locked out the software to begin with, there failure to do that, should not come at the cost of there current consumers.
Microsoft does get away with a lot of things in there own country, USA tends to be a little Bias towards Microsoft, however European Law is a whole different matter, European Trade associations have stamped on Microsoft quite a few times,
i hope that Microsoft does not get away with this, I feel that fair rights is a good thing, fair competition is a good thing, too have a company that has sole right to design 3rd party products for there own console is a bad thing, and consumers will have to pay for it,
Microsoft will create there own products and will have full monopoly on that market, they can charge what they like, they could create poor quality and outdated products and consumers will have no choice but to accept, competition is a good thing, it pushes technology forward, and it keeps prices competitive, without competition that market will become stagnant,
an example would be like Intel with there CPU line, before AMD came about, CPU technology was rubbish and the technology had became well stagnant, why.... because Intel was alone, they could dictate terms to us all and they had no reason to spend millions on research keeping the technology moving forward, no competition, then no rush.
no.... my opinion is competition is a good thing, we the consumers benefit the most with fair competition,
we get the best tech, the latest tech, and we get the best prices, why would we not want any of these.
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|Well said Registered. You could have used a little punctuation to make it easier on the eyes but point well stated. I agree with your entire post.
Nothing like a bit of competition in the market to get things moving.
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|The problem is if it's a mandatory update. If the consumer is able to choose whether or not to apply the update, all is well. Though I could see Microsoft projecting this as a "security update" or something that "benefits the integrity of Xbox Live".
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|I think the problem is that you shouldn't buy something that isn't licensed for the product you are buying it for.
If someone has an issue with that, they can simply never connect their 360 to the internet for updates.
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|Microsoft totally bricked my XBOX 360 with their live updates. Nothing can be done about it except for buying a new one (the live updates issue isn't covered by warranty). Microsoft shouldn't be installing updates without informing anyone about it first or at least fixing issues when it causes issues to the customer.
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|Microsoft are greedy money grabbers. All their Xbox 360 peripherals are overpriced. I hope Datel win this case.
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|It's simple, the only reason this is an issue is that the maker of Xbox is Microsoft, if the Xbox was made by Apple, this would never see the light of day.
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|Yes it would, it would be the same issue here if any other console company did the same thing regardless of what company it was. If apple made a console and wouldn't allow 3rd party companies to create better equipment other than the ones it sold I would be well peeved off.
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|Apple makes an Iphone that doesn't allow third party companies to make anything for it without approval. ID-10-T
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|Xbox accessories is not a market you can get a monopoly in. I hope the court throws this one out. If you want to make accessories you need to make sure they are approved by the company making the hardware. Otherwise it's use at your own risk.
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|You don't have a clue about the way things really work, do you?
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|Enlighten us sjc...how do things REALLY work...???
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|"Xbox accessories is not a market you can get a monopoly in."
And why not ? because you say so ? You can get a monopoly in ANY market and it is the goal of every company to build "barried to entry" in market they are in or control or try to : whatever they say, free market is not what they want.
"If you want to make accessories you need to make sure they are approved by the company making the hardware" :
And why ? Did you have to make sure your screwdriver was ok with the company making screw ? That's Artificial and undue control.
"Otherwise it's use at your own risk."
The previous sentence was about the accessory maker and now this one is about the end-customer : you are not making any logical sense.
As a customer I want to buy in a diverse market from competing diverse makers and I don't want to see my product cripled After-The-Fact or my book un-buy After-The-Fact (even 1984) or my game be modified After-The-Fact to include invasive advertisement (Wipe Out HD on PS3).
It is exactly as if a guy came into my house to change the color of my sofa or take back a book leaving a banknote : it would and SHOULD BE unlawfully (and gross and scandalous) : These things ARE too.
Wake up citizens !!!
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|"If you want to make accessories you need to make sure they are approved by the company making the hardware" :
And why ?
Uhm...because it's a closed platform? Why can't I install OSX on my PC? Did MS say these are approved devices? Did this company get MS's ok to produce and sell these devices? If tey did...the MS is to blame, if they did not, then this company is to blame and should be sued by the consumer for selling them unaproved devices.
MS does look bad in this case...but it's really tihs company's fault for not getting approval to release a product for someone elses device.
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|interesting
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|Apple controls every bit of its hardware with viscious abandon, Im just saying.
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|First banning 1000000 Xbox customers, now this. Who do they think they are, Apple? [sarcasm]
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|Link to the actual *proof* that 1 million customers got banned? There was not and has not been any proof whatsoever that 1 million got banned.
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|LOL, they got banned because they modified their consoles and played illegal copies of games online.
The whole lawsuit about the timing of it right before MW2 came out is like getting caught shoplifting and using the defense that getting caught when you did was bad timing and you shouldn't be held responsible and the store made more money because of catching you. GROW UP.
As far as MS blocking the 3rd party memory card makers, don't care, I have a hard drive, memory cards are a thing of the past on consoles.
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