The Publisher Reportedly Threatened to Sue an Amazon Seller
Author’s note (11:30 AM ET): This Bethesda story has been edited to be more accurate.
According to a report published by Polygon recently, an Amazon seller was threatened with legal action by a law firm that represents Bethesda Softworks if he didn’t stop trying to sell his wrapped copy of The Evil Within 2 on Amazon.
The seller, Ryan Hupp, sent Polygon a letter that was sent to him from the law firm, Vorys, about his copy of the game and it stated that since he was not “an authorized reseller” then his listing of The Evil Within 2 was “unlawful.”
The letter also accused Hupp of falsely advertising his copy of the game as “new” even though, according to Hupp, it was still wrapped.
Hupp said that he complied with Bethesda’s demand and removed his copy from sale but he also told Vorys that his resale was allowed under the First Sale Doctrine, which is a U.S. law that “provides that an individual who knowingly purchases a copy of a copyrighted work from the copyright holder receives the right to sell, display or otherwise dispose of that particular copy, notwithstanding the interests of the copyright owner,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
However, Vorys countered that this wasn’t the case because Hupp wasn’t selling the game in “its original form” since it didn’t have a warranty policy, wrote Polygon. “The letter says this lack of warranty renders the game ‘materially different from genuine products’ that are sold through official channels,” noted Polygon.
Notably, The Evil Within 2 is still being sold by several sellers on Amazon but it is unknown which ones are allowed to sell their copies of the game.
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