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Judge Dismisses Sony PSN Class Action Lawsuit
By Matt O’Donnell
Bad news for PlayStation Network users upset at Sony for placing a no-class-action clause into its Terms of Service last September. A federal judge has dismissed their class action lawsuit against Sony, ruling that the platform holder was within its rights to change PSN’s Terms of Service.
If you remember, California residents Stephen Fineman filed a class action lawsuit against Sony soon after the company revised its TOS and user agreement for its online services, alleging unfair competition against Sony because it forced PSN users to agree to submit disputes to arbitration or else lose their right to play.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled that losing that right was an insufficient argument for the unfair competition claim, as it did not actually cause PSN users any economic harm.
“Plaintiff himself explains that ‘if’ defendants engage in ‘wrongdoing’ in the future, he will only be able to seek relief in an individual arbitration which is ‘unlikely’ to be cost effective,” Judge Illston said. “However, Plaintiff cannot allege that defendants will engage in wrongdoing in the future, that he would pursue a remedy for that unknown wrongdoing, or that the type of harm he suffered would not be cost effective to resolve through an individual arbitration.”
Judge Illston also dismissed Fineman’s argument that Sony’s new TOS devalued his PlayStation 3 because he bought it expecting to access the PlayStation Network, and he would no longer be able to access it unless he agreed to the new Terms of Service.
Illston rejected that argument based on the fact that Fineman had already accepted the new TOS in order to avoid losing access to PSN.
Updated April 13th, 2012
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3 thoughts onJudge Dismisses Sony PSN Class Action Lawsuit
the lawyers should of argued that “ok I agree” was clicked under duress! and null and void. because he was being denied access to play his games that he owned until and unless he clicked ok I agree.. if nothing else each person should be given 30 days notice to read and review the new terms before they have to agree to it in order to continue to access the network. this is just exactly what is wrong with the entire legal system in this country. companies can extort you into agreeing to just about any thing, even unconstitutional illegal bull ,and the judges are going to go along with it. that’s like me saying, if you read this comment then you agree that you agree with it! oh no its too late you cant change your mind about it because you already read so you must agree, period, sucker ! if you read this you must send me a million dollars right now. and nope you cant get out of it because you read it and by reading it you agree to do it,because it says so! its that simple, you cant fight this in court because you agreed to it when you read it, that by reading it you agree to it! and if you know about it then that’s proof you read it, so you cant say you didn’t read it since you are trying to fight it and by fighting it you must know about it… so send me a million dollars right now or ill be using these legaly binding terms that you’ve read, to sue you.
the lawyers should of argued “ok” was clicked under duress because he was being denied access to play his games that he owned until and unless he clicked ok.. if nothing else each person should be given 30 days notice to read and review the new terms before they have to agree to it in order to access the network. this is just exactly what is wrong with the entire legal system in this country. companies can extort you into agreeing to just about any unconstitutional illegal crap and the judges are going along with it. that’s like me saying, if you read this comment then you agree that you agree with it! oh no its too late you cant change your mind you read so you must agree, period, sucker ! if you read this you must send me a million dollars right now. nope you cant get out of it because you read it and by reading it you agree to do it, its that simply, you cant fight this in court because you agreed to it when you read it, and if you know about it then that’s proof you read it, so you cant say you didn’t read it. so send me a million dollars right now or ill be using these legaly binding terms to sue you.
this is complete crap. this is tantamount to extortion. the lawyers involved in this case suck. people log on to psn to play games not to read a twenty page terms of service that hijacks your console and says click agree or you cant play the console you own. it should be illegal the way sony forces you to agree immediately or you cant log in. plus simply clicking ok shouldn’t even be legal anyway, its all nonsense. they should have to send you actual paperwork and make you sign it in ink and have it notarized before any of this crap on their digital bologna terms of service can ever be legally binding.