Hold Mojang Accountable For Their Unlawful Behaviour
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Since April 2023 I have been investigating Mojang, the Swedish company behind the massively popular game Minecraft, for unlawful activities after my personal project was attacked by one of their unlawful contractual enforcements.
Throughout the video attached to this fundraiser, I expose several severe violations of European consumer protection laws & contract law that indicate that Mojang has complete contempt for the law and does whatever it pleases, most likely with bad influence from Microsoft, without adequate oversight, and has evaded all consequences for their illegal actions due to the prohibitive costs of a completely broken legal system.
During my search for justice, I was met with the harsh reality that Sweden does not comply with the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. The failure of several government institutions rendered it impossible to obtain redress for the violation my rights as a consumer under European consumer protection laws, and unfortunately Sweden does not have "contingency lawyers" that work "for free" in the exchange of a cut from the resulting settlement.
During the investigation process throughout which I sought damages for my losses, the more I discovered, the more I realized that this was neither a new occurrence nor a mistake on Mojang's part. There has been a systematic abuse of unlawful contract formulations which has led to thousands of children (most likely in the hundreds of thousands) suffering permanent gambling addictions, large projects completely shutting down and losing tens of thousands in development costs & profits, and more. This is no longer about me, it is a problem that needs to be resolved for the sake of every single person that has been harmed by Mojang's illicit practices.
Not only is this important to me on a personal level after being tied up in this fiasco for around a year and a half with no results due to my financial situation, but it is incredibly important to the integrity of consumer rights as they regard digital services in the European Union in an increasingly digitalized world.
Microsoft's influence as an American company in a country with consumer protections so loose that they can be waived in an instant are seeping into Europe through companies like Mojang that do not intend to comply with existing laws and regulations. Successful legal action in this case, especially considering the scale of the corporation behind it, would set a beneficial precedent that would help keep corporations in line and ensure protection of consumer rights.
I seek funding to enable the possibility of initiating class action lawsuit procedures against Mojang to hold it accountable for damages it caused, particularly by abusing hidden terms and ambiguous wording in contracts & facilitating gambling for children, the latter of which has always been particularly blatant and continually occurred with the company's implicit blessing as evinced by its inaction.
The funding would be used for:
- Hiring legal expert(s) to assess the situation and determine the best possible way to initiate a class action against Mojang
- Funding the execution of the class action lawsuit such as investigation costs, witness acquisition (such as transportation costs for key witnesses to be present in an eventual court trial), legal expert fees, any further cost necessary to the proper execution of the lawsuit.
To clarify any possible misconception, this is no longer about me or my personal losses due to the project I showed in the video which started all of this. This has become about holding Mojang accountable for its illegal actions on behalf of the entire Minecraft community.
The monetary goal of $83 200 (916 281 rounded down to 915 000 when converted to SEK (Swedish currency)) was set based off of the consensus of legal firms that a class action lawsuit normally takes anywhere between 9 months to 3 years to complete. During this time, it can be expected that a lawyer must work at least 40 hours per week (most online estimates between 42-54 hours) which, according to the average hourly cost of a legal expert in Sweden, usually sits between $200-$400+. The goal takes into account the lower hourly cost of 200$.
Assuming a duration of one year (the case is assumed to be relatively short due to the overwhelming amount of evidence against Mojang and clear violations that make it a really clear cut), this would amount to 52(weeks)x40(billable hours per week)x200(USD$ average pricing) for a total sum of $416 000. While the costs may seem high upfront, this assumes that the lawyer would work 40 hours every week which will simply not happen. Large portions of lawsuits are typically spent waiting for the court process and the opposing party to respond. According to further information and consensus online that 50-80% of time in lawsuits is simply waiting, that reduces the cost to 416000x0.2 = $83 200. The higher range of the waiting percentage was determined here as the "research" phase of the class action has basically already been done, evidence is gathered and would not require any further investigating.
Furthermore, considering the case is as good as done from the get-go due to the clear-cut evidence, some to most of these costs may be recoverable from the case once it finalizes as part of the settlements.
The ideal end goal of this fundraiser is that:
- Mojang is forced to pay out a massive settlement to each and every one of its users bound by its digital contracts
- Mojang is forced to pay damages to children who developed gambling addictions as a result of Mojang facilitating gambling for children
- Mojang is forced to update all of its contracts to comply with current consumer protection laws and contract laws
- Costs for the proceedings are recovered from Mojang and donors to the fundraiser recover their funds
Organizer
Kian Brose
Organizer
Nässjö, F, Sweden, F
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