Clever Xbox Live User Sues Microsoft for $500 Billion (or 625,000,000,000 MS Points)
Some cletus down in Arkansas opines that Microsoft has to pay him $500 billion because it didn't answer, in writing, a mailing designed to not get a written response to his demands for $500 billion.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is your source for all the fun, courtesy of a federal civil complaint filed Monday by one David Stebbins. His grounds for suing is a technicality about the nature of the Xbox Live terms of service. He argues that he is allowed him to unilaterally amend the TOS unless Microsoft rejects his terms in writing.
The new terms? Something about he gets paid $500 billion if they don't like the old terms.
Stebbins actually admits to the P-I that his notice to Microsoft was designed to not attract their attention and to go unanswered. "When I mail these documents to Microsoft, they won't go to any legal division; I arranged for the mailings to be picked up by the employee that just collects regular mail! It's quite possible that these employees won't understand the legal significance of these documents, and know that they're required to respond."
Clever! Best part? He refused to create an actual paper filing, as one would expect of a legitimate complaint. Instead he created a YouTube video (since removed) of screenshots of the contract amendments because to create them in paper "would put an undue strain on my printer."
You'd think that if $500 billion were actually on the table, someone would pony up for a $40 inkjet or a trip to Kinko's.
I'm not going to waste words poking holes in his legal reasoning or waste time finding the statutes that limit either the scope of his claims or proscribe this kind of conduct. It's enough to know he's tried this bullshit in other venues, too. And, also, that he claims to have Asperger's syndrome, which is the go-to punchline for many a 4chan troll. I'm sure his agoraphobia will keep him from showing up in court, too.
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