Pokémon GO Pokéstop Removal Lawsuit has been finalized: Here’s everything you should know

Pokémon GO – The game which we all love, Millions of trainers playing together, exploring places, becoming friends and much more since the launch in 2016.

However exploring the world of Pokemon GO, it might become nuisance for few individuals, in the late August 2016 a massive class action lawsuit was filed against Niantic, The lawsuit included private property owners, park managers and homeowners that were disturbed by Pokémon GO players in their area.

Finally after 3 years, on September 6 2019, the lawsuit has been finalized bringing a new set of rules and regulations to Pokéstops, Niantic, POI submission and review system. The Lawsuit and settlement text is available here.

Here’s the short summary of the settlement text and few changes Niantic has to face:

PokéStop Removals with 40 meters of a single Family residential property 🏠

• Niantic has to remove Pokéstop which are within 40 meters of a single family residential property, according to the lawsuit the removal has to occur within 5 days of being complaint acknowledged.
• Niantic will also have a maintain a form on the website whereby an owner of single residential can request for Pokéstop removal from their property.

The Removal form is already live on the official Pokemon GO page.

PokéStop inside parks have to be limited by park buisness hours

• Niantic will have to develop a new mechanism which will limit the working hours of the Pokéstops placed inside the parks.
• Niantic will also have to maintain a mechanism where parks owners can request working hours for Pokéstops placed inside the park.
• This applies only for parks that request this change via the proper park administrator

PokéStop Complaints and Records ✋

• According to the settlement, Niantic has to respond and resolve the Pokéstops removal request within 15 days for 95% of cases each year.
• Niantic has to maintain a database of complaints related to nuisance or trespass and requests to remove a POI, for a minimum of one year from the date of the complaint.

Also Read: Go-tcha for Pokemon GO Review : An Alternative to Pokemon GO Plus

Pokéstop Submission Review Process 🚀

• According to the settlement, Niantic has agreed that it will manually review a significant percentage of new Pokéstop submission requests for the principal purpose of trying to avoid POI that are more likely to lead to issues with nuisance or trespass.
• PokéStop reviewers have to “increase scrutiny” regarding any POI that may be located on or within 40 meters of a private single-family residential property

Raid Warnings ⚠️

Like the warning which appear at the launch of the game, Niantic will also have to add a warning screen before the raid begins reminding players to be courteous to others and respectful of their real-world surroundings.

With the law being finalised, these changes are already being in effect, Niantic will soon release a new update will all new changes and the warning texts.

Do you know?

You can check-out the Countdown Timer of all Events at our All New Mobile App GO Field Guide for all Countdown Timers, Raid Boss Guides, Egg Hatch List, Shiny Checklist and much more…