Disney Goes EULA Crazy On Sleeping Beauty Blu-ray
Posted by Tyler Pruitt on October 8, 2008
Filed Under: Authoring, Blu-ray, Disney, Format War, Interactivity, Software
We couldn’t wait to check out Sleeping Beauty, it being the first Blu-ray release from Disney’s animation vault. Our excitement turned to annoyance when we were greeted with a BD-Live update after inserting the disc.
Now we don’t have a problem with BD-Live updates/downloads per say, but we do take issue with Disney requiring us to agree to a 57 PAGE EULA in order to access the BD-Live content. On top of that, you also have to agree to a 63 Page Privacy Policy in order to gain access to the BD-Live content.
We have seen less onerous EULAs while installing an operating system on a computer! We think this is another case of “Lawyers Gone Wild”, plain and simple. We understand Disney needs to protect itself from litigation, but can’t they just put the fine print somewhere else that doesn’t impede the functionality of disc.
Have you guys/gals seen any other Blu-ray movies with such a crazy EULAs?
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Seems to me behavior like this ENCOURAGES pirating. I mean if you have a choice, I bet some people would just download the rip. Not that I would.
Isn’t this a kids movie…. ??
I dont see kids reading through 57+63 pages of lawyer text…
Extremely stupid move by Disney!
what if you clicked update later? I don’t own a BD player, but it’s talking about the BD-Live content, not the actual movie, correct? seems like you’re getting all bent out of shape over nothing.
besides, the only reason it is 53 pages or whatever is because it’s only showing a paragraph or 2 at time. had they shown an actual page worth of content at a time, it would be much smaller.
besides, how many people actually read EULAs to begin with?
Crazy! The Harry Potter HD-DVD I have with ‘live content’ didn’t require an EULA at all. Or maybe it did, but it was so inconsequential that I don’t even remember seeing one. And since it was a dual-sided disk, I could take it on the airplane or ski vacation or car without buying a second copy for standard DVD players. Sad that Universal caved to the BR camp when HD-DVD was delivering, over 2 years ago, everything BR is just beginning to get around to pushing into the retail channel (and only optionally I might add).
At the end of the day though, the Disney releases are aimed at yet another generation of kids (for good or bad), that will be growing up on instant access to pretty much all the information the Internet/newspapers/music/books has to offer, on their computers or handheld devices, e.g., phones, DS, PSP, etc. So, what’s in it for the kids to have Disney classics on a format they can’t consume in the style and manner of their choice?
Disney aside, BD-Live is just starting. If the infrastructure is there, someone will create the compelling content or services…someday.
What you could do, is just rip the Blu Ray onto your hard disk, and then burn it to HD DVD … somewhere along the line just remove the lame stuff, and SD extra features …
@Justsayyes
I’ve been saying this for what seems like an eternity; no one will listen for some reason.
Disney is crazy with legal approvals!
Actually the hilarious part is all you have to say is “I never agreed to it, my four-year-old who was watching the KIDS MOVIE clicked on Agree” and thus it won’t be legally binding.
Duh.
Truthfully, it’s not exactly binding anyway, right? It’s a FIsher Price contract you’re agreeing to.
So, suppose I buy this Blu-Ray title, take it home, insert it in my player, read the “agreement” and decide I don’t wish to accept it. I then remove it from my player, put it back in the box, take it back to the store and ask for my money back because I can’t use it without entering into a contract to which I object.
I’m assuming I’ll get a blank stare, to begin with; this may be the first time they have heard that complaint.
Then the question arises as to store policy. Will they give a refund on an opened video product that isn’t actually damaged, or do they only offer an exchange for the same title (to avoid people buying, ripping and returning)?
If you can’ t convince them that the unacceptable EULA makes the product unserviceable, can’t therefore obtain a refund and can only obtain another copy of the same product, you are essentially being forced to enter into a contract.
Is such a contract legally enforceable, or is it actually only practically enforceable, in the sense that most people will cave in to the threat of litigation?
Wouldn’t Disney seem to be treading very close to extortion in that case?
I prefer the ripped pirate copy, it has no EULA
@Mike –
From what I can pick up you are only shown the EULA if you want to access the BD Live stuff.
Hollywood’s plans for Digital Restrictions Management, supported by Intel, IBM, Microsoft and SONY, are an outrageous attack on your freedom. They are also an attack on free software, since free software may never be able to read these disks. Business conspiracies to restrict technology should be illegal; until they are, you should prohibit them from your home and your life.
Piracy is attacking ships. Sharing and unauthorised copying is a very different matter.
Wow…this whole BD Live thing, this is kind of a problem. Or it might be the problem I’m having personally. I just received my copy of Sleeping Beauty on Blu-Ray, freshly delivered to work, and naturally couldn’t wait to pop this in when I got home. Much to my chagrin, I painfully sit through the regular, tacky Disney ads. The problem started when I try to then get to the main menu.
Blackness. For quite some time. I remember a “warning” message that popped up the moment the disk was run. It described some sort of “lag” time while the content of the disk was unloading. Oh-kaaayy…? Well that’s alright, I can wait the 2-3 minutes it mentioned, after all, I was playing it on my PS3, which should have the latest firmware to play this stuff fine.
Wrong. Nothing. For quite some time. Settings changed, disks were re-started, but to no avail. Then I noticed the internet connection had dropped. Couldn’t get it anywhere in my house. Looking this stuff up, I’m feeling kind of insulted that Disney, in all their “wisdom”, is throwing the cake and then some of this release at me. I don’t want some silly, immature “Live” connection. I don’t want to send cheap messages while I watch the film. I wanted to sit down, and watch a movie. Simple, right?
So a huge terms of acceptance page, for something I don’t want initially, choking my internet, and not even letting me use the disk for what it’s intended for. This huge, ridiculous deal is probably what’s lagging the playback on this, but after 30 minutes of fuss, I put in another film and told this blu-ray to shove it.
I’m incredibly disappointed, even if I do get it to work later on. These are just my thoughts though; can’t seem to find anyone else having this interference problem.
@Jessica – Turn the BD Internet Connection to “Confirm” on your PS3. It’s under Video Settings in Settings. Easy.