What Pokémon Go Players Should Know About PokéStop Lawsuit

Following its release in September of 2016, Pokémon Go instantly became a huge hit. You would see people playing in the wild as they try to be “the very best.” But as the popularity of Niantic’s mobile game continues to soar, problems arise and have since affected the location-based AR title significantly.

Pokémon Go boasts millions of trainers across the world, but not everyone is actually happy about the cultural phenomena. A massive class action was filed in late August 2016 against the studio. The lawsuit basically includes private owners, home owners, and park managers, among many others – all of whom are reportedly disturbed by Pokémon Go trainers.

Earlier today, September 6, the lawsuit has been deemed final after a successful settlement was reached. As such, a new set of rules and regulations has been brought forward in order to regulate PokéStops, Niantic, and the entire POI submission and/or review system. You can check the whole lawsuit and settlement here.

Due to the settlement, Niantic will be forced to comply with a bunch of requests, and most of these will definitely affect PokéStop behavior. What is more, the studio is expected to obey these rules and regulations for at least three years from the day the final settlement became official.

For starters, Niantic is in a legal obligation which will require it to respond and/or resolve all PokéStop removal requests. If a private owner requests that his/her establishment will be removed as a PokéStop, the studio must comply within 15 days.

Also, Niantic has to remove PokéStops which are on or within 40 meters of a single-family residential property. This removal has to happen within five business days of being acknowledged or agreed to. In addition, the studio needs to maintain a database of complaints relevant to either trespass or nuisance, including all requests pertaining to the removal of a PokéStop.

If a PokéStop is deemed to be a park, Niantic must be able to maintain a mechanism that will allow park owners to request “working hours.” Also, the PokéStop must only be accessible during the park’s operational hours. These changes, however, will only be applied if the park undergoes the change through the proper park administrator.

Since the lawsuit has already been finalized, players should expect these changes to arrive very soon. Niantic will definitely update Pokémon Go with new warnings to keep players up to date with all the recent changes.