US Supreme Court rules in favor of Microsoft in case over scratched Xbox 360 games

Remember that case against Microsoft about the Xbox 360 games getting scratched by the console? If you do, you’d also remember that it’s been ten years festering against the tech giant. Now it finally has a ruling, and it’s in favor of Microsoft (via GeekWire.)

Suffice to say, the original case that rose about the scratched discs had actually evolved into a much more complex judgment. The 2007 group of gamers claiming that their Xbox 360 was ruining their video games were denied class certification in 2012 to take their case against Microsoft as a whole. So they decided to ‘dismiss’ their case with the caveat that they would return to it when achieving class certification. So in appeals, the Ninth Circuit Court ruled in favor of the console owners to attempt to grant them the status. But Microsoft, among others, felt that the attempts to utilize the legislation as a run-around was “inconsistent with the process Congress created” and that it was an unfair advantage.

“The issue in this case was whether plaintiffs and defendants should be on an even playing field when it comes to appealing decisions about class certification,” Corporate Vice President & Deputy General Counsel David Howard explained in Microsoft’s public address to the issue. “This case was about following procedural rules that Congress established and that work for everyone. No party should be able to do an end-run around these rules and have rights that the other party doesn’t get. We’re grateful to the Supreme Court for its time and consideration of this issue.”

The Supreme Court judgment in favor of Microsoft declared that appeals court didn’t have the jurisdiction to rule class action certification after the plaintiffs dismissed their claims. Thus, likely, the end of the decade-long court case between Xbox 360 owners and Microsoft, barring any other legislative loopholes.