Valve facing potential European lawsuit over change in end user license agreement

Valve could be facing a potential lawsuit over changes the company made to its end user license agreement.

Valve could be facing a potential lawsuit in Europe over changes the company made to its end user license agreement, reports Cinema Blend.

The Federation of German Consumer Organisations claims that an EULA update made in August to preemptively protect Valve from lawsuit is unfair to customers. The change was implemented after a European Union ruling stating software companies cannot bar resale of their digital content. Users who refuse this updated agreement have been denied access to their accounts and locked out of content they previously paid for.

The European Union ruling says that "an author of software cannot oppose the resale of his 'used' licences allowing the use of his programs downloaded from the internet" because "exclusive right of distribution of a copy of a computer program covered by such a licence is exhausted on its first sale."

Shortly after this ruling, Valve business development director Jason Holtman told PCGamesN that the company has no plans to allow trade-in and resale of digital content.

The Federation has asked Valve to respond to the charges by October 10th, or they will "resolve the dispute in court."

We have contacted Valve for comment and will update this story with more information as it becomes available.