Virtual (SuperPoke!) Pet Owners Must Arbitrate Their Claims Against Google and Slide — Abreu v. Slide
29 08 2012[Post by Venkat Balasubramani]
Abreu v. Slide, Inc., 12 0042 WHA (N.D. Cal.; July 12, 2012)
This is a motion to compel arbitration filed by Google and Slide, the developer of SuperPoke! Pets. As mentioned by Eric in this initial post about the case, SuperPoke! is a game developed by Slide, which was later bought by Google. The game allowed you to care for “virtual pets” and earn coins. You could use these coins to customize the environment for your virtual pets. You could also buy virtual currency which you could use to purchase certain premium items. Users apparently bought a bunch ($6MM worth, according to an earlier filing by Google) of virtual currency before Google ultimately shut the game down. Users sued, alleging that termination of SuperPoke! Pets by Google and Slide violated California consumer protection laws and California common law. Defendants moved to dismiss, or in the alternative to force the consumer-plaintiffs to arbitrate their claims.
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