EA Hit with Two New Anti-DRM Class Action Suits

Two people filed suit in federal court against Electronic Arts back in October, alleging the SecuROM digital rights management installed on their machines by a trial version of Spore Creature Creator, and a full version of the Sims, constitutes unlawful and deceptive business practices. These two suits, reported today by GamePolitics, seek class action status and join a third filed in September over the use of DRM in Spore.The first suit, lodged by a Pennsylvania man who installed the Spore trial, says that the installation of DRM on a freely distributed program "constitutes a major violation of computer owners' absolute right to control what does and what does not get loaded onto their computers, and how their computers shall be used." The suit says the EULA for the trial made "utterly no mention of any Technical Protection Measures, DRM technology, or SecuROM whatsoever." The second, filed by a Missouri woman, says that after installing DRM-protected The Sims 2: Bon Voyage, she began experiencing problems with her PC. Backup CDs with Sims 2 game content were no longer recognized by her competer; neither were files saved on her USB flash drive or iPod. She rid herself of the DRM and the problems only by reformatting her PC. She accuses EA of engaging in "unfair business practices" as well as conduct that is "immoral, unethical, oppressive [and] unscrupulous ..." No, we have not contacted EA for comment. I'm sure they'd either say they haven't read the suit and can't comment on it, or they have and don't comment on pending litigation. Either way, it's out there. Someone's accusing EA of bad business practices in more than just a Reddit thread. New Class-Action Suits Target EA, SecuROM, The Sims & Spore Creature Creator [Gamepolitics]