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Nintendo wins battles against US parents

by on06 February 2023


Joy-Con drift case resolved by pesky EULA

Nintendo has won a class action bought against it by some parents who were upset about the "Joy-Con drift."

For those who came in late, the Joy-Con had an issue where the analogue sticks on the Switch's controllers pick up input even when the user has stopped touching them.

Cases were filed in 2019 and 2020 after Nintendo agreed to fix the controllers for free. Some parents though thought they could get more from a class action but their case centred on Nintendo’s End User License Agreement which should have forced them to arbitration.

In November last year, a federal judge ruled in favour of Nintendo in the 'Sanchez et. al. v. Nintendo of America' case. Nintendo was able to prevent the case from going any further thanks to the Switch's EULA.

The parents tried to argue their children weren't bound by the EULA due to their age, but in the end, Nintendo won out when the parents were recognised as the real owners of the systems.

Complaints about Joy-Con drift have previously led to Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa apologising for the "inconvenience" and the launch of the company's free repair program. In more recent times, Nintendo America president Doug Bowser has commented about the "battle against" Joy-Con drift - stating how Nintendo is making continuous improvements.

In this case, though it looks like the lawyers won. Sanchez lawyers are still asking the court to allow the suit to proceed on behalf of the children when the case will goes before a federal judge in California on Thursday.

 

Last modified on 06 February 2023
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