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Xbox 360 Class Action | Related News |
Microsoft Served With Xbox 360 Lawsuit
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 10, 2007
Filed at 6:33 p.m. ET
SEATTLE (AP) -- A Florida man who claims Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 scratches game discs has sued the company, saying the consoles are ''negligently designed and manufactured.''
In the lawsuit filed Monday in a Florida federal court, Jorge Brouwer says Microsoft has received thousands of complaints but has not replaced all scratched discs. The lawsuit seeks class-action status.
Brouwer said his Xbox 360 scratched two games, ''Gears of War'' and ''Madden NFL 07,'' and that Microsoft offered to replace them for a $20 fee. He is seeking more than $5 million in damages, according to the court filing.
Last week, Microsoft extended the warranty for the Xbox 360 consoles that completely stop working due to a vague condition the company calls ''general hardware failure.'' This is a separate issue from the scratched discs, though Brouwer's lawsuit cited it as evidence Microsoft ''is well aware that the Xbox 360 console has been defective since its introduction to the marketplace.''
Microsoft denied the allegations.
''Out of the millions of Xbox consoles in use, Microsoft has not received any widespread reports of Xbox 360s scratching discs,'' spokesman Jack Evans said in a statement.
Evans did not clarify what number of reports would qualify as ''widespread.''
Some gamers speculate that moving the console between vertical and horizontal positions while a disc is spinning inside could cause the scratching. Microsoft warns against such actions with a sticker placed on new consoles, and Brouwer said in the lawsuit that Microsoft's customer service representatives asked him if he had tilted the console. He said he had not.
The lawsuit also cites investigations of similar consumer complaints conducted by a Dutch television program, which found that one of nine consoles tested scratched a disc after five hours of play.
Brouwer's lawyer, Jeffrey Ostrow, said he found reports of the Dutch TV tests on Wikipedia, the free online information source whose accuracy has repeatedly come under fire.
Ostrow said he has not confirmed the Wikipedia entry.
Suit says Xbox damages game discs
July 10, 2007 Miami Herald
BY BRIDGET CAREY
bcarey@MiamiHerald.com
A Fort Lauderdale lawyer has sued Microsoft, claiming its Xbox 360 video game consoles cause ''destructive scratches'' to game discs.
Jeffrey M. Ostrow, on behalf of his client Jorge Brouwer, said that the laser that reads the game discs permanently ruins games, and he believes Microsoft should not only pay to fix the problem, but pay for the individual games ruined due to the error.
Microsoft refuses to either replace or provide monetary compensation for all of the damaged games, Ostrow said.
On Thursday, Microsoft extended the warranty on its Xbox 360 to three years after it said many of its consoles suffered ``general hardware failure.''
Complaints posted on gaming websites say that discs have been damaged by the console's laser when the user moves the console from resting vertical to horizonal, and vice versa, when the game is in play.
''They don't tell you not to move the tower,'' said Ostrow, who seeks class-action status for the suit.
The complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court, states that this problem can also occur when the console isn't moved.
Ostrow said that Microsoft has replaced some scratched disks damaged by the Xbox 360 that were manufactured by Microsoft -- at a cost of $20 to the gamer.
New games typically cost about $50.
Microsoft officials released the following statement: "We've only just learned of this lawsuit, so we haven't had time to evaluate it. However, out of the millions of Xbox consoles in use, Microsoft has not received any widespread reports of Xbox 360s scratching disks."
