Putting this here for future reference:

STERN PINBALL

END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

This limited software license Agreement (“Agreement”) applies to your use of Stern Pinball Software pre-installed on a Stern Pinball Machine and any Authorized Updates made available to you. BY USING YOUR STERN PINBALL MACHINE, YOU AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT. If you do not agree to the terms of this Agreement, do not use your Stern Pinball Machine or any Authorized Updates. Please read this entire Agreement, which governs your use of the Stern Pinball Machine, Stern Pinball Software and all Authorized Updates. ADULT CONSENT TO ENTER INTO THIS AGREEMENT, YOU MUST BE AN ADULT OF THE LEGAL AGE OF MAJORITY IN YOUR COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE. YOU ARE LEGALLY AND FINANCIALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL ACTIONS USING YOUR STERN PINBALL MACHINE AND SOFTWARE AND ACCESSING OR USING ANY ONLINE GAMING PLATFORM, INCLUDING THE ACTIONS OF ANYONE YOU ALLOW TO USE AND ACCESS TO YOUR MACHINE AND ANY ASSOCIATED ACCOUNT. YOU AFFIRM THAT YOU HAVE REACHED THE LEGAL AGE OF MAJORITY, UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU ARE UNDER THE LEGAL AGE OF MAJORITY, YOUR PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN MUST CONSENT TO THIS AGREEMENT. DEFINITIONS.
“Stern Pinball Machine” means a Stern Pinball arcade game machine.
“Stern Pinball Software” means software (including but not limited to firmware) pre-installed in the Stern Pinball Machine, including all Authorized Content and any Authorized Updates that Stern Pinball may make available to You from time to time.
“Authorized Content” means all Stern Pinball and third-party owned software and content incorporated into or used with the Stern Pinball Software or otherwise embedded in or utilized by a Stern Pinball Machine, including but not limited to graphics, images, music, vocals and voices.
“Authorized Update” means an update to the Stern Pinball Software distributed by Stern Pinball or otherwise made available by Stern Pinball, including for download on its web site.
“Unauthorized Content” means all content, including but not limited to limited to graphics, images, music, vocals and voices, that does not comprise Authorized Content or an Authorized Update.
“Unauthorized Software” means any software (including but not limited to firmware) not pre-installed by Stern Pinball on a Stern Pinball Machine or that does not comprise Authorized Content or Authorized Update.
“You” means the purchaser or current owner of a Stern Pinball Machine.
LICENSE. Stern Pinball hereby grants You a nonexclusive, non-transferable, limited, and revocable right and license to use one copy of the Stern Pinball Software and Authorized Content and any Authorized Update solely for your personal use, or that of your patrons and customers if you are a commercial entity, for playing a single Stern Pinball Machine. The Stern Pinball Software, Authorized Content and Authorized Updates are licensed, not sold, to You, and no ownership rights are transferred by this Agreement. The Stern Pinball Software Authorized Content and Authorized Updates are protected by U.S. and international copyright. All rights not explicitly granted to you in this Agreement are reserved by Stern Pinball.
As a condition to this Stern Pinball Software license, You agree that:
You will not copy, reproduce, alter, replace, distribute, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, display, perform, create derivative works based on, or otherwise modify the Stern Pinball hardware or Stern Pinball Software or any Authorized Update, in whole or in part; and will not commercially exploit any of the foregoing.
You will not use or install any Unauthorized Content or Unauthorized Software. Use of Unauthorized Content or Unauthorized Software may result in your Stern Pinball Machine ceasing to work permanently and/or losing access to Stern Pinball’s online game network, either immediately or after a later installed Authorized Update.
You will not create, develop, distribute or assist anyone else in creating, developing or distributing any Unauthorized Content or Unauthorized Software intended for use with a Stern Pinball Machine, whether to add to or modify the gameplay, any audio content (whether music, sound or voice), or any video content of any Stern Pinball Machine, or to gain advantage in any online or other game modes, or otherwise.
You will not share any Stern Pinball Software, Authorized Content or Authorized Update with any other person or company and will not permit anyone else to access or copy any Stern Pinball Software or Authorized Content or Authorized Update installed on your Machine for any purpose.
In view of the rights held by third-party owners of Authorized Content (e.g. music and video clips) You will not stream your gameplay of your Stern Pinball Machine without Stern Pinball’s prior consent.
You will not attempt to defeat or circumvent any anti-piracy, security, and/or technical measures to control access to the Stern Pinball Software, features, functions or content, prevent unauthorized use, or otherwise prevent anyone from exceeding the limited license rights granted under this Agreement, “Security Measures”. Attempting to defeat or circumvent any Security Measure may result in your Stern Pinball Machine ceasing to work permanently either immediately or after a later installed Authorized Update.
Stern Pinball may update the Stern Pinball Software from time to time without further notice to You, for example, to update any anti-piracy, security, and technical measure.
PRIVACY POLICY Your use of the Stern Pinball Machine, Stern Pinball Software and any Authorized Updates are subject to Stern Pinball’s Privacy Policy which can be found at https://sternpinball.com/privacy-policy/ WARRANTY EXCEPT AS PROVIDED HEREIN, THE STERN PINBALL SOFTWARE, AUTHORIZED CONTENT AND AUTHORIZED UPDATES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT ALLOWABLE UNDER LAW, STERN PINBALL DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, STERN PINBALL DOES NOT WARRANT THAT OPERATION OF THE STERN PINBALL MACHINE OR ANY ONLINE OR CONNECTED GAME NETWORK WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE. EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES STERN PINBALL IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES; ANY LOSS OF DATA, PRIVACY, CONFIDENTIALITY, OR PROFITS; OR ANY INABILITY TO USE THE STERN PINBALL MACHINE, STERN PINBALL SOFTWARE OR ANY AUTHORIZED UPDATE. THESE EXCLUSIONS APPLY EVEN IF STERN PINBALL HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF THESE DAMAGES, AND EVEN IF ANY REMEDY FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. Some countries do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so this limitation or exclusion may not apply to You. These terms apply to the maximum extent permitted by law and unless prohibited by law. These terms do not change your rights under the laws of your country if those laws do not permit that change. TERRITORY AND CHOICE OF LAW This License is valid only in the country in which you purchased your Stern Pinball Machine. This License will be subject to and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Illinois, U.S.A., regardless of conflict of laws principles. You agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts in Cook County, Illinois, U.S.A. for the resolution of any dispute regarding this Agreement or the subject matter of this Agreement and to waive any jurisdictional, venue, or inconvenient forum objections to such courts. This Agreement may be updated by Stern Pinball from time to time with the current version posted at www.sternpinball.com/EULA. Your continued use of the Stern Pinball Software an Authorized Update after an updated Agreement has been posted constitutes your acceptance of all of its terms.

----

I understand that Stern is worried about license holders, but the language here is broad. No streaming without written consent? It appears they're also going after mod makers of all kinds. I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know about the enforceability of something like "BY USING YOUR STERN PINBALL MACHINE..." when the EULA wasn't accepted as a term of sale.

Reading this doesn't make me feel good or that Stern is just protecting its rights. Seems like an overreach.

It looks as though you need to accept it before downloading software now...

FYI: This is what was linked on the site: https://sternpinball.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Eula.pdf

Thanks for throwing in your thoughts on this @ForceFlow. Up front, I don't stream and don't plan to. And I'm asking these questions to be educated, not to be challenging.

If the RIAA are the ones cracking down, why is Stern the able to grant written permission?

I assume that for their own IP, if they were to do a truly original unlicensed game, they'd be the ones granting permission.

But if, as an example, some streamer asks if they can stream Led Zeppelin, would Stern ask the licensor on the streamer's behalf? Seems unlikely, or that the answer would be no. Or is it Stern's right to give license to do so? If so, why no grant a blanket license to people to stream their games?

Wouldn't it be simpler to just say something like "Rebroadcast of copyrighted content is subject to applicable laws" and call it a day, if they're looking for some kind of means to say they've brought attention to the issue?

You have to think that streaming pinball games is of much more benefit than harm to Stern. I would have no idea what Avengers plays like without it, since all locations are closed here. And even when they are open, it takes weeks or months for me to see one in the wild.

Agree that this model is spreading, and in many of the wrong places. SaaS, though, is usually *no* up-front cost in exchange for a subscription fee - which can be a really nice pay-per-use model. It doesn't carry over well to a physical device that you need to buy, since the up-front cost usually isn't defrayed like it ought to be in exchange for ongoing subscription fees.

The language about mods in Stern's EULA is also concerning to me. I've seen some very, very creative improvements to games, from both a visual and mechanical perspective from mod makers. For example, Matt's switch mod for The Shadow solves a very real design problem in the game - I'd hate to see a manufacturer either go after those people or discourage them with the looming threat of litigation...

Not my video, but some interesting commentary:

A friend brought this to my attention... I far prefer Capcom's approach to protecting their rights on streamed content:

https://www.capcom.com/video-policy/

https://sternpinball.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/53149950_v-6_EULA-1-14-2021.pdf

The latest update. Softening of the streaming language from something like " you have to have our permission " to " we wash our hands of your illegal activity."