Outside Copenhagen District Court, Denmark. Advocate John Lancel stands alongside his client Villads Christensen and delivers a comment to the gathered press following the recent decision by the Copenhagen Appellate court to allow the case to proceed. The Appellate Court has overturned a lower court dismissal and has allowed their case to proceed against Eve Online developer CCP Games.
“This is a momentous occasion, let it be known that no matter the amount, however small and insignificant, a company cannot roam free in the consumer space abusing their customers without repercussions. CCP Games have violated consumer law, and have denied my client their services for a few minutes each day that he has rightfully paid for and is entitled to. Every second of lost game time is a second stolen from my client. And CCP Games must pay for this.” Advocate John Lancel jubilantly announced this to the press.
This latest development follows an earlier ruling by the Danish Lower Court in Elsinore, where the man currently resides and where the case was initially dismissed. The Elsinore Court apparently was not sufficiently experienced in online consumer law and did not adequately take into account the nature of online services and Danish Sale of Goods Act which covers virtual goods, services, and online fulfilled commerce.
The exact details of the case are withheld from the general public until the case concludes. Luckily, numerous, frequently updated, forums and social media posts by Villads Christensen provided updates on the lawsuit. Each day, he alleges, in the MMORPG Eve Online, the developer withholds access to the game, for a period ranging between 5 and 15 minutes in length in which the developer conducts server and game maintenance. He alleges that this infringes upon his consumer rights, and nowhere in the Terms of Service does CCP explicitly state that he would not be able to play the online game 24/7, the game charges by the month, and he wants the whole month.
Mr. Christensen has outlined that he has been playing Eve Online for over 15 years and is estimated to have lost nearly 60 days of actual in-game time per account, of which he had many. A total of 2 years of lost game time across all accounts is estimated to have been lost. He is currently seeking damages in the form of an exclusive in-game cosmetic cat-themed skin for one of his ships or a hefty financial settlement.
A representative of the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority issued a statement alongside the ruling.
“There is little precedent for such cases. And we are treating this as a test case for undeclared service denial. Of course, unforeseen hardware and software failures are known to everyone and this is not what the case focuses on. CCP Games knowingly disbarred their customers each day for a set period fully within their control without due compensation. We would not expect this from a car or television, and it will not be tolerated. ”
CCP Games declined to comment but was adamant about their innocence in the matter.
