Lawyers are forming mass arbitration groups, costing companies thousands per arbitration case...
>For example, in the TurboTax case, a judge tallied (PDF) Intuit’s potential costs for the arbitrations to be at least $128 million—$3,200 for each of the 40,000 clients represented by Keller Lenkner, the firm behind the mass arbitration.
>Finally, companies may want to reconsider whether individual mandatory arbitration still represents the best dispute resolution system for their needs. Some companies already have opted to revert to court litigation and class actions, although the majority – even after having to face a mass arbitration – continue to use arbitration, albeit with several of the risk mitigation strategies described above.
Microsoft got around this in some of their agreements by adding provisions to "throttle" arbitration so that if a lot of customers file arbitration at once, they may have to wait months or years to have their case heard.
Binding Arbitration was already a blatant sidestepping of the American Constitution and general corporate accountability, but leave it to Microsoft, a monopolist with government contracts, to take it to another level. The only binding arbitration agreement I've seen which compared was Linode's, which included a gag clause.
I mean look at the shit Disney tried to pull recently saying a park guest couldn't sue after her husband died due to negligence on the parks behalf because they acknowledged D+ subscriber agreement that specified arbitration.
A lot of people on Reddit's /r/SteamDeck report that this notice popped up while they were mid-game on Steam Deck. Often leading to (in-game) death.
Last night, I was playing Elden Ring, when suddenly the game screen froze, and then went black. The game's music was still playing in the background. I assumed that it was some sort of crash (notably, the first crash I have EVER experienced while playing that game on Steam Deck). After rebooting the Steam Deck, and finishing my play session, I noticed there was some sort of critical notification on my account, which turned out to be the update to the subscriber agreement. I assume that my game 'crash' was actually Steam attempting to show the agreement update over the game. Thanks, guys!
Same, middle of an Oxygen Not Included session- but on a regular PC.
I also find it interesting that I woke up to find california passing a bill declaring the use of "Buy" buttons for purchasing a content license on this site.
I find the arguments in this thread persuasive, but the timing and nature of valve announcing the change in terms more than a suspicious. I'd have to go check, but I would not be suprised if I received the notice around 5pm california time.
I'm not a lawyer, but severability clauses are generally a thing when needed, both in contracts and in laws. As I understand it, courts are also reluctant to strike down an entire law or contract if the entire thing is not what is being challenged. Answering a question of law outside the bounds of the question the parties are asking the Court to answer is called an "advisory opinion," and illegal in many jurisdictions.
IAMNAL but there’s usually a clause to say that if some part of the agreement isn’t valid/can’t be enforced/etc then the rest of the agreement stands regardless. Who knows how well that stands up though (probably lawyers somewhere, but I doubt it is cited often).
I just got that email, "we have updated the Steam Subscriber Agreement".
It seems that the only way to not accept the new agreement is to close your Steam account. I assume they don't provide any way to use the games you bought if you do this, and don't refund you either. How is that legal?
Of course I've seen this in a ton of subscription-based services, but since Steam lets you "purchase" games, that really seems problematic?
The update is in your favor. If it were the other way around you'd want to start a class action suit. (I am assuming you're not an arbitration lawyer that priced themselves out of the market)
>For example, in the TurboTax case, a judge tallied (PDF) Intuit’s potential costs for the arbitrations to be at least $128 million—$3,200 for each of the 40,000 clients represented by Keller Lenkner, the firm behind the mass arbitration.
https://www.consumerreports.org/money/contracts-arbitration/...
So companies are removing the provision...
>Finally, companies may want to reconsider whether individual mandatory arbitration still represents the best dispute resolution system for their needs. Some companies already have opted to revert to court litigation and class actions, although the majority – even after having to face a mass arbitration – continue to use arbitration, albeit with several of the risk mitigation strategies described above.
https://www.cooley.com/news/insight/2022/2022-06-30-how-comp...
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