It seems like the major lawsuit against Snapchat might have some effect on the core features of Pokemon GO. On the other hand, the Pokemon Company has shut down two major online tools that help players navigate the game.
Snapchat's Story Affecting Pokemon GO?
Many hopeful fans are expecting Niantic to return the lost features of the mobile Pokemon game after Snapchat was recently found not guilty of the allegations against them. The case ended with the judge not passing a penalty towards the mobile app for a woman's car accident. Apparently, she was aiming to reach 100 mph while driving in order to record her deed on Snapchat using the speed filter.
The argument against the mobile app was that it should not be encouraging these kinds of behavior with their filters. However, the judge did not accept this and Snapchat's lawyer, Mark Trigg, even brought up the possibility that the accident could happen with any other mobile apps that share the same functionality, not just Snapchat.
For the case of the Pokemon game, Niantic has recently disabled features for when the player's speed hints that they may be driving. Despite the several in-game warnings, the mobile app will still not spawn monsters if it detects that the player is going above a certain speed.
Because of this, nobody has taken severe legal actions against the company despite the numerous accidents that have already happened, as per Forbes. To continue being cautious, it seems like Niantic has no plans of ever lifting the feature of Pokemon spawning if players meet a certain speed level. However, the company has yet to actually confirm if they plan to keep the handicap or not.
Lawsuits Against Third-Party Websites
That aside, Mic reports that the Pokemon company has begun taking measures against cheaters.The company has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the creators of Pokealert and Pokemap. The letters supposedly contained warnings about copyrighted images and data scrapping meaning that the sites were pulling direct information from the official app without consent.
Because of this, both services have ultimately shut down and will no longer receive any support. While players will still be able to access PokeAlert, it will slowly die as it will lack future updates. Similarly, other third-party websites like GamePress and The Silph Road may also be in danger in terms of copyright violation. However, the said sites do not seem to be stealing information from the main app.
For now, fans will have to make due with whatever features the mobile game still has. In regards to tips and tricks, players will have to resort to other means of locating specific monsters. Pokemon GO is available for free on Google Play and the iOS Play Store.
