Patreon changes its terms for the second time in less than three weeks.
Dispute resolution
To summarize: If you have a problem please talk to us, but you are limited in how you can resolve disputes. You waive your right to trial by jury and your right to participate in a class action proceeding.We encourage you to contact us if you have an issue. If a dispute does arise out of these terms or related to your use of Patreon, and it cannot be resolved after you talk with us, then it must be resolved by arbitration. This arbitration must be administered by JAMS under the JAMS Streamlined Arbitration Rules and Procedures, except as expressly provided below. Judgment on the arbitration may be entered in any court with jurisdiction. Arbitrations may only take place on an individual basis. No class arbitrations or other other grouping of parties is allowed. By agreeing to these terms you are waiving your right to trial by jury or to participate in a class action or representative proceeding; we are also waiving these rights.
For creators and patrons who are consumers, we also follow the JAMS Policy on Consumer Arbitrations Pursuant to Pre-Dispute Clauses Minimum Standards of Procedural Fairness for consumer arbitrations done under these terms. For the purpose of an arbitration subject to the consumer standards, if any portion of these terms do not follow that standard, that portion is severed from these terms.
This clause does not limit either party’s ability to file an action in a court with jurisdiction to seek injunctive or other equitable relief for disputes relating to intellectual property, proprietary data or to enforce this dispute resolution clause, including your agreement not to assert claims related to the suspension or termination of another person’s account. In any such action, the court rather than an arbitrator must decide whether such a claim is arbitrable and must decide whether the party is entitled to the requested injunctive or other equitable relief.
This is rapidly threatening to move beyond comedy into farce… they just keep digging the hole deeper. Remember, these are the legal geniuses who, in the full knowledge that they had waived their right to participate in a group action, filed not one, but TWO group actions.
They also don’t seem to grasp that the relevant terms are those at the time that the event concerned took place, not when the legal action is taken. Also, they appear to have completely blown off their duty to notify their users of these changes, so if you’re a Patreon user, be sure to keep your notification emails from them and note how many days after the effective date it is.
It’s more than a bit strange how they keep trying to defend their deceptive practices by engaging in more of them. But it should be entirely clear to everyone at this point that if you’re desperately trying to change the rules again and again, you’re obviously not winning the game.