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EA Adds "No Class-Action" Clause to Origins

by Keith Sadler, posted on 26 September 2011 / 1,898 Views

EA have updated their Terms of Service contract to include a clause similar to Sony’s PSN Terms of Service, which limits your rights to a class-action lawsuit here in the U.S.

By accepting these terms, you and EA expressly waive the right to a trial by jury or to participate in a class action.

YOU UNDERSTAND THAT BY THIS PROVISION, YOU AND EA ARE FOREGOING THE RIGHT TO SUE IN COURT AND HAVE A JURY TRIAL.

YOU AND EA AGREE THAT EACH MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN YOUR OR ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING.

However, we must give credit where credit is due. Origin’s privacy policy is the best in the industry and it restricts EA to collecting only anonymous information. People aren’t always so careful with your data. Also, the PSN EULA has included a 'no class action' clause for some time.

EA’s legal professionals are being extremely careful with their verbiage as well, and thus have included this little gem:

“You agree to not hit the enter key repeatedly [...] so the screen goes by too fast to read.” Whoops.

Here’s EA’s Privacy Policy in full, and here is Origin’s End User License Agreement (EULA).

You may always choose to not accept the contract as specified.


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4 Comments

thranx
thranx (on 27 September 2011)

That sounds extremely fishy to me. I do not see how you can waive rights like that. I don't think that would hold up in court. As far as I know in the US you can not contract yourself out of your rights, of which those sound like some. Could be wrong though.

  • +1
binary solo
binary solo (on 27 September 2011)

Yeah. You can't contract out of the law. The big question is, is class action legal proceedings a legally protected right? Suing individually is a right and EA affirms this. I wonder if civil lawsuits in front of a jury is a legal right. Someone should hack into a publisher's EULA and insert a rumplestiltskin clause like "the purchaser agrees to give up his / her first born child to the publisher" right in the middle of the EULA. See how long it takes for someone to notice.

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Boberman
Boberman (on 27 September 2011)

As far as I know majority of these policies are not legally binding. All they do is give the company permission to boot you from the service.

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Tammi
Tammi (on 27 September 2011)

I hate EULAs. They're usually too long, boring to read and they often take away your rights. And there's nothing you can do about it... Oh well, Origins isn't my kind of game anyway......

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