Forum - View topic

NEWS: Lawsuit Filed Against Pokémon Go Developers

It's funny since most of the locations are based off Ingress portals which were placed for the most part by players.It was basically the same game as pokemon go and has been around since 2012 but you didn't see people complaining then.Btw they are working on making it so people can opt out afaik.

An interesting thought, is it trespass if you place a virtual object on someone's property without their permission?

This is a public activity which has impeded on a man's private property, a fact even more egregious because it is his home, his personal space.

He should not have to opt out of this: Nothing should have been put there in the first place! It is not the job of private people to police a public activity which they have no involvement with.

If I created a treasure hunt, to promote a business, and listed places that were neither public nor easily accessible on the map, I would deserve every lawsuit that came my way.

As the game loads, it cautions you to be aware of your surroundings while playing. That alone should be enough of a defense to survive in court.

cloud8100 wrote:

That's why they should prohibit the private territory of others from having Pokemon in the first place.

Are you volunteering yourself to go throw the zoning records for every town and city in the world to determine where public property starts and stops? What about the private properties that embrace being featured in the game? If they want to put in an opt-out system, that's fine, but there's no way what you are suggesting is plausible.

Joe Mello wrote:

As the game loads, it cautions you to be aware of your surroundings while playing. That alone should be enough of a defense to survive in court. cloud8100 wrote: That's why they should prohibit the private territory of others from having Pokemon in the first place. Are you volunteering yourself to go throw the zoning records for every town and city in the world to determine where public property starts and stops? What about the private properties that embrace being featured in the game? If they want to put in an opt-out system, that's fine, but there's no way what you are suggesting is plausible.

Ya, doesn't make it any better. Even if they can't do that they should have thought about the consequences. They should have at least made an opt out system before the game was even released. If other people wanna stay in the game that's good for them.

That's ridiculous. That's like saying the developers of half life should consider that a child might get traumatized by their work and not out any scary looking stuff in their game.

That's like saying a knife company had to consider that someone might want to cut his wrists and not make it sharp therfore.


Pokémon aren't set in special locations. They move around like animals, or a leaf in the wind. But I guess God needs to consider that the laws of physics could endanger someone's private property If let's say kids accidently drop a baseball in a guys garden and ask for permission to get it.
Totally unacceptable right.

People are also forgetting that there is apparently a 50-75 foot range at which you can catch pokemon.If that's true people don't even need to go into someone's yard to catch pokemon in it.

CandisWhite wrote:

This is a public activity which has impeded on a man's private property, a fact even more egregious because it is his home, his personal space. He should not have to opt out of this: Nothing should have been put there in the first place! It is not the job of private people to police a public activity which they have no involvement with. If I created a treasure hunt, to promote a business, and listed places that were neither public nor easily accessible on the map, I would deserve every lawsuit that came my way.

And if a couple of neighbor kids popped a baseball in your backyard? You sound like a fun person to live nextdoor to.

As the game loads, it cautions you to be aware of your surroundings while playing. That alone should be enough of a defense to survive in court.

Lawsuit is absolutely stupid but the real problem is the many, many people who seem to lack common sense or compassion. How pathetic and self absorbed do you really have to be to actually pester people in their homes to gain "access" to their properly so you can catch some worthless virtual pixels? Even worse the ones who don't ask permission and just trespass. Catch your virtual pixels in public places where you aren't disturbing people dealing with their REAL, private lives. The sooner this madness over this stupid fad dies the better.

It's also hard to tell how PG determines gyms and Pokestops. All the ones in my areas are actual pieces of decor (statues, fountains, that sort of thing) or public businesses. No Gym houses here!

This is a public activity which has impeded on a man's private property, a fact even more egregious because it is his home, his personal space.

He should not have to opt out of this: Nothing should have been put there in the first place! It is not the job of private people to police a public activity which they have no involvement with.

If I created a treasure hunt, to promote a business, and listed places that were neither public nor easily accessible on the map, I would deserve every lawsuit that came my way.

Niantic did not think this through; They needed to do what they are doing with McDonald's in Japan: They needed to have businesses on board with the project, use open public spaces, and have Pokémon stops be ONLY at those locations.

I mean if they say poke players asking for permission to go into the yard is an invasion of privacy does that mean I'm going to stop seeing Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses coming by? What about door to door salesman? I trust you get my point. If they say what the players are doing is an invasion of privacy what else will such a ruling impact?

Like I said people.Most if not all the gyms/pokestops are in the set locations not because the devs put them there but because PLAYERS put them there in the Ingress app.Pokemon go uses Ingress's locations.That's why you get odd things like a half dozen pokestops being in the same spot.

I was going to point this out as well, in which case I find his claims of people coming to his door to catch pokemon in his back garden a little hard to believe, unless he owns a huge patch of land.

Kids play street hockey out front and I have a family with 3 kids next door, so yeah, I've had a lot of knocks on the door, "Can we please get X?" and they've gotten X: I would have a far different reaction to dozens of strangers, every day, tramping all over my lawn, going in my back yard, and knocking on the door at all hours.