Not only Judas Priest can be found breaking the law, apparently Valve was found breaching Australian consumer laws.
After 18 months in the Australian Federal Court the case between Valve and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has ended, finding Valve guilty.
The big issues was that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) found Valve's (makers of Steam) non existing refund policy to not be in line with the Australian Consumer law. Valve has since the court process started implemented a refund policy but the case started in August 2014, before the refund policy was implemented.
Valve tried to claim that they were not officially conducting business in Australia, they were just enabling Australian customers to purchase from their platform. Valved denied that this would fall in the Australian Consumer law definition of "goods". And Valve also claimed that their Steam Subscriber Agreement is the law in the state of Washington, USA, and not Australia. Basically Valve claimed that they didn't have to obey by Australian laws since they weren't conducting business, selling goods, and that they only had to adhere to the laws in Washington, USA.
The Australian Court didn't fall for that and they found that Valve had made a few misleading statements in their three versions of Steam Subscribers Agreement and the two versions of Steam Refund Policy. The court of course focused on the Australian customers rights to refund products.
Justice Edelman and the court claims that Valve was operating in Australia and that they have to follow Australian law.
The ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said
“The Federal Court’s decision reinforces that foreign based businesses selling goods and/or services to Australian consumers can be subject to Australian Consumer Law obligations, including the consumer guarantees,”.
“In this case, Valve is a US company operating mainly outside Australia, but, in making representations to Australian consumers, the Federal Court has found that Valve engaged in conduct in Australia. It is also significant that the Court held that, in any case, based on the facts, Valve was carrying on business in Australia.
“This is also the first time Courts have applied the extended definition of ‘goods’ to include “computer software” in the ACL. It will provide greater certainty where digital goods are supplied to consumers through online platforms.”
“Consumer issues in the online marketplace are a priority for the ACCC and we will continue to take appropriate enforcement action to hold businesses accountable for breaches of the ACL.”
Basically, the ACCC will keep on reinforcing the Australian customers rights on the online market. Now that Valve has been found guilty a precedent has been set for future cases against foreign companies operating on the Australian market.
To sum it up: Valve claimed that they weren't officially conducting business in Australia and they didn't have to follow Australian Consumer laws. The court and ACCC didn't agree and claimed they were in fact conducting business in Australia and had to follow Australian law. This also made it clear that software and other items purchased online goes under the Australian classification "goods" making similar cases easier in the future since they now have a precedent .
Back when the case first starte din August 2014 the ACCC asked that Valve:
• Provide an email address that specifically deals with refunds as per Australian Consumer law.
• Provide a 1800 number to help consumers address any refund issues.
• Provide a PO Box address for consumers to deal with refunds.
• Appoint a contact officer to reply to consumers regarding refunds.
Back then Valve said that they would make "every effort to cooperate with the Australian officials on this matter."
Valve will additionally have to pay 75% of the ACCC's legal costs.
An additional hearing to discuss potential relief is set April 15 2016.
What Valve will have to do now that they have been found guilty has not been detailed yet but stay tuned to GameZone for more information on Valve vs Australia.
Source: Kotaku Australia
