EA's New User Agreement Bans Lawsuits 273
An anonymous reader writes with this snippet: "Electronic Arts has updated its Terms of Service Agreement for the Origin platform. Following Sony's steps, and taking it even further, EA has added a new clause that prevents users from suing them in both class action and jury trial forms."
Re:The EULA said that? (Score:5, Informative)
Quote from the EULA:
This provision applies to all consumers to the fullest extent allowable by law, but expressly excludes residents of Quebec, Russia, Switzerland and the Member States of the European Union.
Hence Europeans can feel safe.
Re:Suing a game manufacturer? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Suing a game manufacturer? (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/att-mobility-v-concepcion/ [scotusblog.com]
Re:Biting off more than they can chew I fear (Score:5, Informative)
At some point, someone will challenge the legality of this practice of blocking legal recourse.
It has been challenged, many times. Congress even weighed in with the Federal Arbitration Act -- passed in 1925, don't think this is a new thing by any means -- and specifically stated that arbitration clauses are legal and enforceable. Courts have found that there are some cases in which they aren't, for example if the arbitrator can be shown to be biased. But even there, the Supreme Court found in 1967 that you basically have to try arbitration first before you can appeal to the court system.
Binding arbitration clauses in contracts are settled law and new challenges aren't likely to change that. In fact, they're not likely to survive summary judgment. I'm less sure about binding arbitration for class action suits; I think it could be argued that class action provides a form of remedy which isn't available through arbitration and therefore cannot be replaced by it.
Bad summary - just arbitration (Score:4, Informative)
But if you really think it's so onerous, then you can simply not agree to the EULA. It's not like you'll die if you don't play the latest Madden release.