The Paris Court of Appeal confirms the impossibility of reselling video games in digital format

A Paris appeals court has settled a long-running legal battle that began in 2015 between UFC-Que Choisir and PC game distribution and sales market leader Steam. Consumers Association believes that a video game purchased in digital format should be able to be resold in the same way that its physical version is burned on Bluray. Steam is fundamentally opposed to this. The American company had appealed the first decision made by a Paris court on September 17, 2019, invalidating fourteen clauses of its user agreement, including a general ban on the resale of a game purchased on their platform. This decision opened the door to a potential secondary market for video games in digital format.

However, as L’Informé found out, the Paris Court of Appeal confirmed the impossibility of reselling so-called dematerialized games in a ruling dated October 21, 2022. In his decision, he asserts the rule.exhaustion of rights“. The rule in question restricts industrial property rights once commercialization and marketing have already taken place. The court also considers that a video game is not a simple computer program. It is primarily a work of thought where copyright applies. “LThe market for used intangible copies of video games is likely to affect the interests of copyright owners much more strongly than the market for used computer software. “, the court decides.

Moreover, the court does not recognize “steam walletas electronic money. A point that was also raised by the Consumers’ Association, as “steam wallet» allows you to deposit money to buy games. Recognizing it as a currency would change the regulations on compensation.

Possible appeal in cassation

In addition, the court refused to grant a stay to the Court of Justice of the European Union, as requested by Ufc-Que Choisir. ” The Court considered that it could resolve this case without seeking clarification from the Court of Justice of the European Union, whereas we, on the contrary, consider that this is a debate that also concerns European regulations; “, says the head of the association’s legal department, Raphael Bartlome.

Ufc-Que Choisir can now appeal to the Court of Cassation to overturn the decision. We will take a few weeks to calmly read the decision and see if there are serious grounds for appealing to the Court of Cassation.“, says Rafael Bartlomé. an object”up to dateAccording to his estimate, while in 2021, according to a study by the consulting company Accenture, the video game market represented more than 300 billion dollars in revenue worldwide. A market heavily fueled by the rise of dematerialized gaming. In France, half of console games are in digital format, while the PC gaming market is completely dematerialized.