US lawyers float Facebook Credits antitrust suit

[Baltar]

Any Facebook game developers on here looking to force Facebook to allow Bitcoin?

--

US attorneys are trying to drum up interest in a potential case against Facebook, claiming its Credits virtual currency is breaking US antitrust law.

The firm, Newman DuWors, has thrown up the site Stopfacebookcredits.com to attract game developers and providers of virtual currencies who believe their businesses have been or are being damaged by Facebook Credits.

Newman DuWors hopes to bring either a single or a class-action against Facebook under the US Sherman Act that saw Microsoft prosecuted during the 1990s. Derek Newman with the firm told The Reg on Monday that he hopes somebody who’s been put out of business by Facebook Credits will come forward who he can represent.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/27/facebook_stop_facebook_credits/

http://stopfacebookcredits.com/

[Boussac]

Interesting: thanks for bringing this up.

[evoorhees]

Antitrust law is so absurd. Nobody is forced to use Facebook, not the users nor the developers. Anyone who complains about Facebook Credits on the basis of "monopoly" is a sniveling whiny bitch imo

Facebook should do whatever the heck they want with their own money. And the same freedom that protects their right to do so is the same freedom which protects our right to do whatever we want with Bitcoin.

[grue]

Antitrust law is so absurd. Nobody is forced to use Windows, not the users nor the developers. Anyone who complains about Windows on the basis of "monopoly" is a sniveling whiny bitch imo

Microsoft should do whatever the heck they want with their own software. And the same freedom that protects their right to do so is the same freedom which protects our right to do whatever we want with Bitcoin.

[Kluge]

Antitrust law is so absurd. Nobody is forced to use Windows, not the users nor the developers. Anyone who complains about Windows on the basis of "monopoly" is a sniveling whiny bitch imo

Microsoft should do whatever the heck they want with their own software. And the same freedom that protects their right to do so is the same freedom which protects our right to do whatever we want with Bitcoin.

+1. Those suits against MS were utterly retarded. If I want to install Chrome, FF, Safari, or whatever else, I'm quite capable of doing so.

(... )

Anyhoo, good luck Facebook. (rather, I hope they win in court... not fond of Facebook.)

[LoupGaroux]

This is nothing more than a creative approach from a firm of blood-sucking leeches trying to create an issue so they can screw a settlement out of FB (which I detest by the way.) The endgame for this frivolous lawsuit will be a nice fat settlement for the firm based on pumped up fees, a few coins for the token class representative for the syuit, who we will eventually learn is related to the law firm suing, and nothing but a lot more hot air.

[vampire]

I'm quite capable of doing so.

The other folks aren't that advanced :-)

[evoorhees]

I'm quite capable of doing so.

The other folks aren't that advanced :-)

Perhaps there should be a law that all literature must be written using only 2nd grade English, so that it's accessible to everyone.

[LoupGaroux]

I'm quite capable of doing so.

The other folks aren't that advanced :-)

Perhaps there should be a law that all literature must be written using only 2nd grade English, so that it's accessible to everyone.

Or just drown all stupid people. Imagine a world where the lowest common denominator is constantly rising!

[Serenata]

What I see positive about this, is that since FB has its own "currency" and the State(s) don't have any issues with that, then it would be tough to "forbid" the use of Bitcoin in the future. Or at least without doing the same to other virtual currencies....

[kjlimo]

What I see positive about this, is that since FB has its own "currency" and the State(s) don't have any issues with that, then it would be tough to "forbid" the use of Bitcoin in the future. Or at least without doing the same to other virtual currencies....

Facebook has obtained MSB licenses or something like that in several states.  So I think your conclusion is not based on correct facts / observations and or may be incorrect.

Please do some more research before making such conclusions.

[Serenata]

Facebook has obtained MSB licenses or something like that in several states.  So I think your conclusion is not based on correct facts / observations and or may be incorrect.
Please do some more research before making such conclusions.

That's what the forum is all about. Discussing, exchanging opinions and correcting each other.  If we were able to check all possible implications of our thoughts, then we would not need to discuss anything. Please note that I don't live in the States or anywhere near...

[Xenland]

I was developing a 2d shooter mmo game for facebook that would use bitcoin but I stopped developing it due to the fact that "facebook credits only" policy was announced..

[kjlimo]

Facebook has obtained MSB licenses or something like that in several states.  So I think your conclusion is not based on correct facts / observations and or may be incorrect.
Please do some more research before making such conclusions.

That's what the forum is all about. Discussing, exchanging opinions and correcting each other.  If we were able to check all possible implications of our thoughts, then we would not need to discuss anything. Please note that I don't live in the States or anywhere near...

Sorry, my response was not very nice.  Please see here for a discussion on the licenses Facebook has been gobbling up in the States.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=64326.0

You'll want to be clear which country you're talking about when discussing legality.  I guess I assumed this was in regards to the US because it was in a topic labelled "US lawyers..."

I'm not lawyer, but I'm trying to reach out to a recently barred old college buddy to see if he's interested in helping me research bitcoin legal issues.

ciao

[Serenata]

Facebook has obtained MSB licenses or something like that in several states.  So I think your conclusion is not based on correct facts / observations and or may be incorrect.
Please do some more research before making such conclusions.

That's what the forum is all about. Discussing, exchanging opinions and correcting each other.  If we were able to check all possible implications of our thoughts, then we would not need to discuss anything. Please note that I don't live in the States or anywhere near...

Sorry, my response was not very nice.  Please see here for a discussion on the licenses Facebook has been gobbling up in the States.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=64326.0

You'll want to be clear which country you're talking about when discussing legality.  I guess I assumed this was in regards to the US because it was in a topic labelled "US lawyers..."

I'm not lawyer, but I'm trying to reach out to a recently barred old college buddy to see if he's interested in helping me research bitcoin legal issues.

ciao

Thank you for the link! You were right though, there were things that I wasn't aware of (like the need for this MSB license), thus I made wrong assumptions Btw, I live in Greece, and I'm curious to find out if such a license is needed in my country as well....

[PawShaker]

Antitrust law is so absurd. Nobody is forced to use Facebook, not the users nor the developers. Anyone who complains about Facebook Credits on the basis of "monopoly" is a sniveling whiny bitch imo

Facebook should do whatever the heck they want with their own money. And the same freedom that protects their right to do so is the same freedom which protects our right to do whatever we want with Bitcoin.

I cannot agree that antitrust laws are absurd. The problem with FB "monopoly" is that they force people, who use one service, to use partcular brand of another service. If you have large market share in on service, you use it to lock your users to your brand in another service. Well competition goes out thrugh the window.

Who has more rights to do with their money as they please: FB or FB users?

[Dutch Merganser]

Facebook must die, it is one of the greatest threats to personal privacy and freedom worldwide today.

Warriors against Facebook, know that this is jihad, take no prisoners. Destroying the enemy is an act of mercy, so be merciful.

[Big Time Coin]

Antitrust law is so absurd. Nobody is forced to use Windows, not the users nor the developers. Anyone who complains about Windows on the basis of "monopoly" is a sniveling whiny bitch imo

Microsoft should do whatever the heck they want with their own software. And the same freedom that protects their right to do so is the same freedom which protects our right to do whatever we want with Bitcoin.

+1. Those suits against MS were utterly retarded. If I want to install Chrome, FF, Safari, or whatever else, I'm quite capable of doing so.

(... )

Anyhoo, good luck Facebook. (rather, I hope they win in court... not fond of Facebook.)

Because part of the settlement against Microsoft is that they allow other browsers to be compatible with Windows.

And antitrust is one of the very few things people actually need government for, to maintain a free market.  Even very hardcore libertarians will admit the need to break up monopolies.  I'm a bit surprised that you seem unaware of this, ev.

[HostFat]

http://finextra.com/News/Fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=23823

"Facebook is to abandon its Credits virtual currency platform in favour of a system which allows developers to be paid in a local currency of their choosing."

[beckspace]

Even very hardcore libertarians will admit the need to break up monopolies.

Not me. Freedom > Justice.