Earlier this week, a class action lawsuit issued against EA, Harmonix, MTV, and Viacom claims that the drum pedals in Rock Band were "designed to deliberately cheat large numbers of consumers out of individually small sums of money."
Beyond simply wanting to punish the companies for allegedly releasing shoddy products, the lawsuit tries to make that claim that they markted and released Rock Band 2 as a means of exploiting the defective nature of the original product.
Rock Band 2, as you may know, comes with a steel plated foot pedal for the drum set. This is a change from the all plastic piece present on the original pedal.
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Beyond simply wanting to punish the companies for allegedly releasing shoddy products, the lawsuit tries to make that claim that they markted and released Rock Band 2 as a means of exploiting the defective nature of the original product.
Rock Band 2, as you may know, comes with a steel plated foot pedal for the drum set. This is a change from the all plastic piece present on the original pedal.
The key point here is Harmonix and EA’s June 26th extension of the Rock Band warranty — which lasted until October 1st, 2008. Now, any new customer has only a sixty day warranty on Rock Band hardware. Plaintiffs argue that this is not nearly enough time should, say, a mother purchase the game for a Christmas present months in advance — and moreover, that the extension in and of itself is part proof that Harmonix realized the hardware was defective.
The kicker comes with when and how defendants chose to market Rock Band 2. Harmonix announced Rock Band 2 only four days after they revealed that the warranty extension would cease in October — and October is when Rock Band 2 was released (though the game was originally slated for the prior month). Furthermore, citing the image at right, plaintiffs note that the new game featured an improved drum pedal that featured prominently in the game’s marketing campaign… and allege that the warranty expiration was timed to drive existing owners of defective kits to purchase the new game.
Defendants seek damages and restitution, though they don’t specify how much, and for the court to order an injunction, presumably on the further sale of the “defective” Rock Band drum sets.
The kicker comes with when and how defendants chose to market Rock Band 2. Harmonix announced Rock Band 2 only four days after they revealed that the warranty extension would cease in October — and October is when Rock Band 2 was released (though the game was originally slated for the prior month). Furthermore, citing the image at right, plaintiffs note that the new game featured an improved drum pedal that featured prominently in the game’s marketing campaign… and allege that the warranty expiration was timed to drive existing owners of defective kits to purchase the new game.
Defendants seek damages and restitution, though they don’t specify how much, and for the court to order an injunction, presumably on the further sale of the “defective” Rock Band drum sets.
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