Nach dem Rechtsstreit zwischen Valve gegen Sierra/Vivendi (wir berichteten) gibt es nun ein richterliches Urteil!
Wie Doug Lombardi per Email mitteilte, hat Valve den Rechtsstreit gegen Sierra/Vivendi Universal Games gewonnen.

Der Richter Thomas S. Zilly hat Valve, im Bezug auf den Cyber Café Streitfall, Recht gegeben. Somit darf einzig und allein Valve, die Lizenzen für Valve Produkte wie Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike: Source, etc. an Internet Cafés verkaufen.
Keine Rechte bzw. Genehmigungen über die Lizenzen von Valve Produkte haben Sierra und Vivendi Universal Games, wie es das Gericht festlegte. Somit ist es Vivendi untersagt worden, Valve Games an Internet-Caffees zu vertreiben!

Des Weiteren darf Valve, nach Richter Zilly, Schadensersatz für die Verletzung ihrer Copyrights geltend machen.


Originale Pressemeldung:

VALVE WINS SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTIONS IN COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT CASE

Valve today announced the U.S. Federal District Court in Seattle, WA granted its motion for summary judgment on the matters of Cyber Café Rights and Contractual Limitation of Liability in its copyright infringement suit with Sierra/Vivendi Universal Games.

Judge Thomas S. Zilly ruled that Sierra/Vivendi Universal Games, and its affiliates, are not authorized to distribute (directly or indirectly) Valve games through cyber cafés to end users for pay-to-play activities pursuant to the parties' current publishing agreement. Valve games such as Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and the recently released Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source are all popular in cyber cafés.

In addition, Judge Zilly ruled in favor of the Valve motion regarding the contractual limitation of liability, allowing Valve to recover copyright damages for any infringement as allowed by law without regard to the publishing agreement's limitation of liability clause.

"We're happy the court has affirmed the meaning of our publishing contract. This is good news for Valve and its cyber café partners around the world," said Gabe Newell, founder and CEO of Valve. "We continue to add value to our program and we look forward to working with cafés to get them signed up and offering Valve's latest games to their customers."

The Valve Cyber Café Program is the only legal way to use Valve games in your cyber café or gaming center. There are currently thousands of cyber cafés participating in the program throughout the world.