Questionable, Ridiculous, and Just Plain Silly EULAs

Following up on my previous post describing what a EULA is and how they work, let's look at some EULAs of some more well-known pieces of software or hardware that you may be using. Some of the terms and conditions of the EULA will surprise you.

I waive my moral rights to EA
Here's another EULA from EA. Basically, EA owns whatever you create and produce on the software. You also waive your moral rights to EA. Also note both the license grant and waiver is still in effect even if you terminate the EULA.

Sony, EA, Steam – No Class Action Lawsuits

The latest revisions of the EULA for the Sony, Electronic Arts, Steam, Microsoft, and a multitude of other prominent software vendors now contain a clause that specifically prohibits the user from engaging in class action lawsuits. Below is an excerpt from the Sony EULA that users must accept to use a PlayStation console.

ANY DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCEEDINGS, WHETHER IN ARBITRATION OR COURT, WILL BE CONDUCTED ONLY ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS AND NOT IN A CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION OR AS A NAMED OR UNNAMED MEMBER IN A CLASS, CONSOLIDATED, REPRESENTATIVE OR PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL LEGAL ACTION.

These clauses typically mean if you have any grievances against the company, you give up the right to a lawsuit and must go through an arbitration process that is outside of the courtroom. Unfortunately arbitration payouts are usually much smaller and the playing field is unbalanced towards large companies who have well compensated lawyers.

What do you mean I can't use iTunes to create nuclear weapons?
The iTunes EULA below pretty much explains itself. Guess my evil plan to take over the world has been thwarted.

Read the EULA, get a prize

Since everyone knows that people don’t read EULAs, one software manufacturer actually included a statement within the EULA that stated that a “Special consideration which may include financial compensation” will be given to users who read the EULA. Someone did eventually claim the $1000 prize, four months later.

Perhaps one way to get people to read EULAs would be to include prizes for reading through the document. Unfortunately, most manufacturers don’t want you to read through EULA since that would mean they would be unable to hide controversial clauses in them.

Read a 57 page EULA to watch Sleeping Beauty
Even kids aren't exempt from reading EULAs. The image below is of a 57 page EULA that appears when you insert the disc for Sleeping Beauty. This is an interesting case since movies traditionally did not have EULAs. However with any Blu Ray discs now containing interactive content and downloadable content, EULAs are cropping up. In this case, the EULA appeared since the disc was trying to update content which meant having to accept the EULA.

After reading through these examples, do you now feel the urge to read through EULAs before clicking Accept? Feel free to comment below if you have any additional examples of EULAs like the ones I posted.