Developer Threatens to Sue Over Out-Of-Date Review.

[MCerberus]

If this doesn't disappear, I hope someone picks this up pro-bono and hits them with a massive punative counter-suit. The SLAPP suits are getting out of hand.

Anyone send in a tip to Popehat?

 

[Trooper924]

Something similar happened to Jim Sterling today. Steam group YOLO Gaming accused him of defamation after he did a video on them, on the grounds that they had deleted some of the stuff that Jim had shown as proof. Jim's response was to laugh and forward the relevant information to his lawyer.

 

[Fsyco]

Regardless of the illegitimacy of the claims, how would the dev get jurisdiction for a lawsuit? I've got no idea how UK or Australian law works, but it seems like they'd have a hard time convincing Australian courts that they have jurisdiction over some guy in the UK over a video, and they probably don't have the time or money to go do this in the UK.

 

[rcs619]

Something similar happened to Jim Sterling today. Steam group YOLO Gaming accused him of defamation after he did a video on them, on the grounds that they had deleted some of the stuff that Jim had shown as proof. Jim's response was to laugh and forward the relevant information to his lawyer.

Just another group of clowns for Jim to smack down in court, if it even gets that far. Just because you have no idea how the law works doesn't mean that the person you're threatening also doesn't

The bigger youtube personalities have gotten a lot more legal-savvy than you'd expect. They'd had to, between big corporations and smalltime idiots like this always trying to come out of the woodwork at them.

Thank God for Jim. The man, the myth, the Steam Cleaner.

 

[Amigastar]

Yeah i saw this, Oddgames went full retard. They could have asked politely but appearently there were not enough Braincells to do so.

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

Regardless of the illegitimacy of the claims, how would the dev get jurisdiction for a lawsuit? I've got no idea how UK or Australian law works, but it seems like they'd have a hard time convincing Australian courts that they have jurisdiction over some guy in the UK over a video, and they probably don't have the time or money to go do this in the UK.

What you do is sue people in a court that has jurisdiction over them. Like if I am in the USA and you want to sue me, then you file in US court. You could file in UK court to sue me, but I don't live in the UK or have any assets there so I could just ignore the ruling. (That is what I learned, but I am willing to bet there are also tons of trade rules that might come in.)

 

[Smithnikov_v1legacy]

Here's to hoping he'll stand up to these dirtbags and call their bluff. Bullies like them tend to crumble pretty quick when that happens.

 

[Fsyco]

Regardless of the illegitimacy of the claims, how would the dev get jurisdiction for a lawsuit? I've got no idea how UK or Australian law works, but it seems like they'd have a hard time convincing Australian courts that they have jurisdiction over some guy in the UK over a video, and they probably don't have the time or money to go do this in the UK.

What you do is sue people in a court that has jurisdiction over them. Like if I am in the USA and you want to sue me, then you file in US court. You could file in UK court to sue me, but I don't live in the UK or have any assets there so I could just ignore the ruling. (That is what I learned, but I am willing to bet there are also tons of trade rules that might come in.)

Logistically, that's not easy. If Oddgames wanted to sue in the UK, they'd have to physically go to the UK for court appearances, and hire a lawyer in the UK. That's gonna be expensive, and will cost them way more time and money than it would cost Dan to fight the case. They're not a big company with representatives in every country, they're a smalltime developer with nothing better to do than harass Youtubers.

This is why in the Jim Sterling lawsuit, DigiHom filed their case in Arizona (their home state) instead of Mississippi (Jim's state), even though Arizona probably doesn't have jurisdiction. You want to fight on your home turf, as it were.

 

[Ishigami]

With my very limited understanding of laws I go on a limb and say they have no leg to stand on.

That said they fully in the right to sue anyway.
If your legal system is setup in a way that money wins out then the problem is your legal system, not the one suing you.

 

[Fsyco]

That said they fully in the right to sue anyway.
If your legal system is setup in a way that money wins out then the problem is your legal system, not the one suing you.

I know in the US you have a guaranteed right to sue. Don't know if other countries have it to.

Money winning out in legal systems is more a matter of logistics than malice or corruption. The person with more money can simply afford to spend more time dealing with a lawsuit. Most lawsuits end in settlements because nobody wants to spend the time, money, and effort required to actually fight the case, because it's an inconvenient pain in the ass, and settling just makes the problem go away. Can't think of any reasonable solution to the problem.

 

[Cap'nPipsqueak]

Do you think someone should point out to them that if this got legal he could drum up more than a million dollars overnight if even a third of his fanbase sent him a single dollar?

 

[Mangod]

I think the most perplexing part out of all of this is that they decided to threaten NERD3 before even contacting him; did they just assume that he'd be unreasonable and refuse to do what they asked of him? That seems like a really dumb idea - he probably would have been OK with re-reviewing the game, or annotating his video to say that it's recieved an overhaul since he reviewed it, so it might not be accurate.

But no; let's pre-emptively threaten him, that'll make him want to cooperate, and not drag our name through the stickiest mud he can find.

 

[FalloutJack]

Pffft, why? Are you gonna suddenly make money on it? Don't think so.