illegal to sell games before "street date"

[Ziraider]

I randomly we went to a local game store yesterday and seen they had pokemon white and black out, on the shelf. I asked if they were alrdy selling copies they said they were I bought it :) is there some kind of law where this is illegal?

 

[Shanghai Alice]

I think it depends on the method of acquisition, and whether or not the store is licensed to sell it.

 

[Anthraxinsoup]

No, it's not illegal, just pisses devs off.

 

[The 100 Mega Shock]

Yeah if a publisher finds a persistent case of a shop breaking date they can get really annoyed and probably do something like hold off the actual shipment until the last possible minute or someone will end up fining them, etc.

 

[skppy1225]

If the shop is contractually bound to not sell the game before the release date, that is a breach of contract. The publisher/developer then has full rights to sue.

 

[Ziraider]

Ah, I wasn't sure I have been playing it since I bought the game and thought oh crap, thought maybe I could get in trouble for it.

 

[sab]

Them selling is possibly illegal, but you buying isn't. Even if it was illegal it wouldn't be worth nintendo's time to track you down.

 

[Shanghai Alice]

Them selling is possibly illegal, but you buying isn't. Even if it was illegal it wouldn't be worth nintendo's time to track you down.

If Nintendo gets as desperate as the music industry, however...

*Shudder*

Old ladies beware.

 

[Vrai]

If Nintendo gets as desperate as the music industry, however...

*Shudder*

Old ladies beware.

Isn't changing the topic to the music industry moving you one branch closer though? I mean...

As far as video games, we go from Nintendo/Game Freak -> GameStop or w/e -> you
but for music we go from Music Producers or iTunes or w/e -> you

I mean, it's your fault for doing stuff as far as music. It's not your fault if you're buying games released too early from a store.

 

[Impo]

i don't think you will be prosecuted for buying a game before the release date.
if it's there and you were going to get it anyway, then it's just like making a sale earlier.

 

[Shadow]

If the shop is contractually bound to not sell the game before the release date, that is a breach of contract. The publisher/developer then has full rights to sue.

This.

It becomes a civil case between the game company and the store that sold it. Potentially, another store (IE: Best Buy suing Target) could also sue as it injures their profits by another store selling it early but I've never heard of this happening and it would be very hard to prove.

It's not illegal in the sense that there's some federal law of "Thou shalt not sell video games before their release date." It's illegal in that the store is breaking a written agreement with the game company which usually comes with the game boxes.

 

[NatureKeeper]

If they signed a paper, they cannot sell anything before release date, or else they can get sued.