The case against valve in Australia concerning Valve’s policy of not offering refunds between 2011 to 2014 has now concluded.
The Federal court of Australia has concluded that Valve did not ensure it complied with Australian law when setting up operations in the country.
The SMH reports that Valve’s counsel told the court that they had not obtained legal advice when setting up Australian operations. This admittance landed Valve a fine twelve times larger than the $250,000 they had “suggested” to pay.
The conclusion reached by Justice James Edelman was based on a lack of refund policies and lack of contrition on Valve’s part in cooperating with users. Testimony by Justice James Edelman pointed out that there were more than 20,000 tickets with refund included in them from Australian IP addresses, 21,124 tickets to be exact.
“Yet it had a culture by which it formed a view without Australian legal advice that it was not subject to Australian law, and it was content to proceed to trade with Australian consumers without that advice and with the view that even if advice had been obtained that Valve was required to comply with Australian law the advice might have been ignored.”
