ISFE says allowing games from our Steam library to be sold will lead to “a dramatic increase in piracy rates”

The first Valve ally after the French court ruling that allows us to sell games from our Steam library, has been the ISFE

Last week the French justification recognized the right of users in Europe to sell their own Steam games. This was achieved thanks to a lawsuit from the French group 'UFC Que Choisi' that fights for consumer rights. They sued Valve for several clauses that prevent users from selling the games in their library, something that bypasses European legislation.

Valve was alone in this whole process, but things have changed. The International Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) has sided with Steam. They allege that the French court's decision is not in line with current European legislation. Quite a curious move.

After the ruling, Valve receives significant support

Simon Little, CEO of ISFE, consider that reselling a game differs little from piracy. They say this would cause "a dramatic increase in piracy rates," which would end up damaging the industry. A very catastrophic vision and quite far from the reality of what could happen.

“This French ruling goes against established EU law which recognizes the need to protect digital downloads from the ease of reproduction allowed by the Internet.

Far from supporting gamers, this decision, if so, would dramatically and negatively impact investment in the creation, production and publication, not only of video games, but of the entire production of the digital entertainment sector in Europe. If Europe's creators cannot protect their investments and intellectual property, the impact on both industry and consumers will be disastrous.

According to EU copyright law, when it comes to digital and streaming services, each use must be subject to the copyright holder’s authorization and the copyright does not expire with its first sale, as it does with physical goods. Physical goods are subject to the “right of distribution” and the “doctrine of exhaustion”, meaning that the buyer has the right to resell the goods if they were first put on the market with the copyright owner’s authorization. This is not the case for digital downloads which are subject to “public communication”, meaning that the buyer has no right to sell them without the copyright owner’s permission.

Source: GD