PlayerAuctions has responded to Roblox’s February lawsuit, in which the gaming company is looking to shut down the third-party buying and selling of Roblox’s digital goods, in new court documents filed in late March. The company claims in its response that Roblox’s rules preventing asset trading in secondary markets are “fundamentally anti-competitive” and a violation of California trade law. Roblox, it says, just doesn’t want to miss out on “fees and revenue” for transactions.
It denies many of the claims laid out by Roblox’s lawyers, saying that Roblox players have a “right to resell the accounts, in-game items, and currency they have purchased from Roblox” under the “first sale doctrine,” which is a law that affirms a person’s right to resell something like a book after they’ve purchased it. (The ownership of digital goods, though, are a bit more complicated and disputed.)
Roblox says in its original complaint that PlayerAuctions disrupts and undercuts its business and economy by allowing players to buy and sell their accounts, items, and in-game currencies. Roblox itself is a social gaming platform that hosts hundreds of different gaming experiences, be it games like Dress to Impress or branded worlds like a digital Universal Studios. Millions of people are playing at any given time; Roblox said in its complaint that the use of its market is comparable to that of “certain smaller nations.” Roblox claims the site not only infringes on its trademarks and encourages Roblox users to break its rules, but allows scammers to exploit its marketplace, too.
“Roblox looks forward to making its case in court,” a Roblox spokesperson told Polygon. “Third-party sites like these have no legal affiliation to Roblox, operate unauthorized marketplaces in violation of Roblox’s Terms of Use and Community Standards, and can be confusing to Roblox users. Roblox is committed to promoting the safety and security of its users and protecting its intellectual property and will continue to be vigilant to combat unauthorized use of our platform.”
PlayerAuctions claims in its response to the complaint that it spends “hundreds of thousands of dollars on risk management and fraud prevention measures to ensure that only legitimate trades between real gameplayers are allowed.” It continued: “[PlayerAuctions] has no interest in allowing scammers to use its platform to conduct nefarious transactions.”
Right now on PlayerAuctions, a person can buy a highly-leveled account, currency for Pet Simulator, an armor set for Dungeon Quest, or a rare pet, like a cow, in Adopt Me. Players can also pay someone to farm currency in Blox Fruit and other games. Though PlayerAuctions denies that the marketplace is rampant with scammers, some communities believe that to be true: In 2021, the Neopets community reckoned with scammers and hackers stealing rare pets to sell on sites like PlayerAuctions. PlayerAuctions is also being sued by Grand Theft Auto 5 publisher Take-Two Interactive for running what it calls a “lawless enterprise.”
Alongside the first sale doctrine and antitrust arguments, for its defense PlayerAuctions also claims that it’s not infringing on Roblox’s copyright. Instead, it claims its usage of its marks are covered under fair use. It also says the complaints are rendered null by the statue of limitations; PlayerAuctions has been running its Roblox marketplace for “nearly ten years” with no interference from the company. The suit also points to “growing criticism that Roblox has not done enough to protect children from a variety of predatory practices, including exploitative advertising and incessant microtransactions.” While children might not “think much about the alienability” of in-game items, PlayerAuctions says, adults and teens do.
PlayerAuctions wants to see the lawsuit through to a jury trial.
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