This Dude is Suing Nintendo for $5M for Putting Pokemon in His Yard

When Pokemon Go debuted, it was a smash hit. It seems like it’s even bigger than Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. It’s nostalgic, gets people exercising, and is untainted by any Kardashian proximity, so of course it’s a huge deal. As soon as it debuted, people started wondering how they could make money from it. Some restaurants started Pokemon Go promotions. A little kid started selling Pokemon-shaped reflector lights so kids can play Pokemon Go after dark. And now one guy has filed a $5 million class-action lawsuit against The Pokemon Company, Niantic, and Nintendo for putting Pokemon in his backyard.

According to Forbes, a man from New Jersey has filed the case on the grounds that at least five separate strangers have knocked on his door and asked if they could go into his backyard to catch Pokemon. Even though the people have been knocking and asking politely, he says the knocking and asking constitutes a nuisance.

Sure, one to five people knocking politely to ask to catch Pokemon does not seem like a particular problem. But if that happened a few more times, or even if it just happened twice a day, that could get old real fast.

On the one hand, this seems pretty silly. On the other hand, it is fascinating. How are they going to determine legal precedent for the act of putting pretend, virtual items on someone’s real lawn?

The lawsuit seeks payment for property owners, and an injunction that would keep the game company from putting PokeStops and Gyms on private property without the owner’s permission.