Playing Pokemon GO? It’s time to read the Terms & Conditions

Pokemon GO users have waived of the rights to any future arbitration against Niantic without knowing

Pokemon GO might be something that is on everyone’s mind right now, but what no one really knows is that they waived away any legal rights to any future trial by jury or class action lawsuit unless individually opted out of a binding clause in the Terms and Conditions. This was first spotted by Consumerist.

Terms & Conditions are usually really long documents, and can be anywhere between a few hundred to a few thousand words. The chances of a user scrutinizing the entire document before accepting is next to impossible. Users usually just scroll through the T&C to simply hit agree to the same and get on with the app.

The Pokemon Go T&C, developed by Niantic Labs includes a restrictive forced arbitration clause that bans a user from filing a lawsuit against the company or join any other to push a class action lawsuit (in US) against Niantic in case of a leak of private information or anything that may call for legal action.

The notice go as follows in the game’s T&C:

ARBITRATION NOTICE: EXCEPT IF YOU OPT OUT AND EXCEPT FOR CERTAIN TYPES OF DISPUTES DESCRIBED IN THE “AGREEMENT TO ARBITRATE” SECTION BELOW, YOU AGREE THAT DISPUTES BETWEEN YOU AND NIANTIC WILL BE RESOLVED BY BINDING, INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION, AND YOU ARE WAIVING YOUR RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY OR TO PARTICIPATE AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS ACTION OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING.

How to opt out?

There is an option for the game players to opt-out of the provision of giving up arbitration rights, but you only have 30 days since first agreeing to the T&C to opt out. A user needs to send an email to termsofservice@nianticlabs.com with “Arbitration Opt-out Notice” in the subject line and a clear declaration that you are opting out of the arbitration clause in the Pokémon Go terms of service.

Source:IndianExpress