SecuROM DRM Lands Spore Court Case
Despite the pleasure many gamers have been deriving from Spore, many were up in arms about the rather draconian measures imposed by the Digital Rights Management features of the title. Most disgruntled buyers took a more passive route to express their displeasure; whether creating creatures in-game that protested the strict anti-piracy measure or blasting the game with one-star reviews on Amazon.
One particular individual has taken this to the next level. Melissa Thomas of Maryland filed a class-action suit against the company over this issue. “Nowhere in any of EA’s discussions, responses or explanations of its DRM did EA disclose that the Spore disk contained a separately-installed, stand-alone, uninstallable DRM program” reads her complaint.
The plaintiff is seeking damages and legal fees over $5 million. She is claiming that the game violates the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, unfair competition and interfering with property. Her claim is that the only way to remove SecuROM from ones computer after installing the game is to completely reformat the hard drive.