EA’s Origin follows PSN in removing legal rights

EA’s digital download platform Origin is following Sony’s PlayStation Network  (PSN) in forcing users who sign the terms and conditions to waive certain legal rights.
Last week, PSN introduced fresh terms of use that removed users rights to class action suits and it now transpires that Origin’s terms of service include a section in which users “expressly wave the right to a trial by jury or to participate in a class action”. Like PSN, Origin wants to ensure that any and all future disputes are handled via individual arbitration (as this is generally less costly for companies).
As with the PSN ‘agreement’, it’s possible to opt-out of Origin’s. However, the language used appears to suggest that you’ll be reserving the right to opt out of future changes, so it’s too late to dodge the legal rights waiver. Some amusingly complicated legalise follows:
“Notwithstanding any provision in this Agreement to the contrary, we agree that if EA makes any future change to this arbitration provision (other than a change to the Notice Address), you may reject any such change by sending us written notice within 30 days of the change to the Arbitration Notice Address.”
There is some good news, though. If you happen to be a resident of the European Union, Russia, Switzerland or Quebec, then the binding arbitration clause does not apply to you (presumably because the laws of the land don’t allow it). Such clauses are, sadly, possible in the United States thanks to a Supreme Court ruling relating to the mobile phone giant AT&T.
Source: shacknews.com