ABSTRACT
No one could have anticipated the drastic consequences of Pokémon GO, which quickly became the most popular smartphone game in U.S. history with more than $2 billion in global revenue from July 2016 to December 2018.
In this augmented-reality game, players are required to travel with their phones to real-life locations in order to collect virtual Pokémon creatures and win rewards. The game, however, did not take precautions to avoid sending players to private property. As a result, homeowners nationwide began to suffer property damage, belligerence, and harassment from game players trespassing on their properties at all hours of the day and night.
The resulting class-action lawsuit against Pokémon GO asked whether a game owner can be held liable for engineering a game in a manner encouraging other people to trespass …
Gold, Sara, When Pokémon GO(es) Too Far: Augmented Reality and Tort Law (2018). Whittier Law Review, volume 38, 2018.
First posted 2019-02-02 10:02:41
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