Judge sides with Twitch over Phantloml0rd ban in final lawsuit ruling Twitter: Phantoml0rd \/ TwitchThe judge presiding over the James \u2018PhantomL0rd\u2019 Varga vs Twitch lawsuit has issued a final statement of decision, in which he highlights many holes in Phantoml0rd\u2019s case, which led to Twitch only having to pay around $20,000 in damages rather than the $100 million initially requested. In April, the court ruled that Twitch had to pay Phantoml0rd $20,720.34 in damages, over a dispute which arose from Twitch\u2019s decision to permanently ban the streamer in 2016. However, although Varga \u2018won\u2019 the lawsuit \u201con all counts\u201d (in his own words), Judge Curtis E.A Karnow\u2019s statement of decision on September 1 reveals more about the proceedings, and why Varga\u2019s legal team failed in their pursuit of tens of millions in damages. At the outset, \u201cVarga\u2019s counsel alleged to damages in the range on $15 million to 100 million.\u201d This request was then revised to only $12 million, before later being raised again to as much as $63 million. In the end, the $20,720.34 was largely due to the jury finding that Twitch had violated a provision in Varga\u2019s contract that he should receive 30-days notice before being banned. Phantoml0rd claimed he was \u2018singled out\u2019 During the case, it was argued by Varga\u2019s team that Twitch had treated him unfairly, compared to other streamers, namely Sodapoppin. The judge explains it was argued that \u201cVarga was the \u2018scapegoat\u2019 and although he was banned, another popular but similarly abusive streamer named Sodapoppin was not banned.\u201d \u201cThis was one of Varga\u2019s core themes at trial. Twitch noted Varga\u2019s extraordinarily high number of violations and Varga retorted with Sodapoppin\u2019s 34 violations.\u201d However, Twitch argued that each streamer\u2019s \u201cdisciplinary record\u201d is treated separately, on a case-by-case basis. The judge also went into detail about Phantoml0rd\u2019s violations on the Twitch platform, which include passing out drunk, \u201csimulating sexual intercourse\u201d, as well as sexually suggestive and racist content. Phantoml0rd testified he didn\u2019t know about TOS It is also told how Phantoml0rd claimed under oath that he \u201cdidn\u2019t know about the TOS\u201d (Twitch\u2019s terms of service), or \u201cdidn\u2019t recall\u201d, but the judge found that he was not telling the truth. Because, it was made abundantly clear to all in the courtroom that Varga did in fact know about the TOS, when they were \u201cshown a YouTube video which Varga posted which shows Varga looking at Twitch\u2019s TOS and rules of conduct in 2016.\u201d The judge also noted that \u201cVarga had other serious issues with his credibility, too.\u201d Judge sides with Twitch on ban decision Finally, the judge concluded that Twitch benefitted \u201cthe real consumers here who are the viewers (including teenagers) who no longer were exposed to his abusive behaviors. \u201cWhile consumers might have been disadvantaged by not being able to watch Varga\u2019s high-quality gameplay on Twitch (a consumer injury Varga never argues), they can do so on e.g., YouTube.\u201d In conclusion, the judge expects Twitch will not repeat its \u201cham-fisted\u201d response to Varga\u2019s \u201cabusive actions\u201d, as the lawsuit itself cost the streaming platform \u201calmost half a million dollars on its expert, and I expect attorney\u2019s fees far exceed that. That should be enough to get Twitch\u2019s internal legal team motivated.\u201d In the claim of unfair competition law (UCL), the judge states \u201cjudgement should be entered for Twitch and against Varga on the UCL claim.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Judge sides with Twitch over Phantloml0rd ban in final lawsuit ruling Twitter: Phantoml0rd \/ TwitchThe judge presiding over the James \u2018PhantomL0rd\u2019 Varga vs Twitch lawsuit has issued a final statement of decision, in which he highlights many holes in Phantoml0rd\u2019s case, which led to Twitch only having to pay around $20,000 in damages rather than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52414\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}