Judge Susan Illston, of the Northern District of California, evaluated the enforceability of defendant’s online terms of service and granted its motion to transfer venue.
Background. Plaintiffs alleged that Zynga’s Toon Blast and Toy Blast mobile games used manipulative design to pressure players into in-app purchases and generated more than $1 billion in revenue. They also alleged that Zynga disclosed users’ personal identifying information and video-viewing histories in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act, alongside UCL, False Advertising Law, CLRA, fraud, and unjust-enrichment claims. The games used clickwrap notices requiring players to accept the Take-Two 2024 and 2025 Terms of Service, which contained individual arbitration provisions, mass-arbitration procedures, class and jury waivers, and an exclusive New York forum-selection clause. Zynga moved to compel arbitration or transfer the case.
The Court’s Analysis. The court found that the pop-up acceptance process was a conventional clickwrap agreement and that the parties formed contracts under either New York or California law. The 2024 and 2025 Terms required disputes to be brought in state or federal courts in New York County, and the plaintiffs did not dispute that the forum clauses applied even though they contested the timing and validity of one opt-out. The court enforced the clauses under the federal transfer statutes and concluded that New York was the contractually selected forum. Because transfer resolved the threshold venue issue, the court declined to decide Zynga’s arbitration, dismissal, or discovery motions. The case was transferred to the Southern District of New York and the California case-management conference was vacated.
Significance. Clickwrap terms can control venue even when the underlying dispute concerns privacy, consumer-protection, or app-design practices. Well-documented changes in Terms of Service are helpful to establish which provisions apply to each consumer.
Dougherty v. Zynga Inc., No. 25-CV-04051-SI, 2026 WL 880150 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 31, 2026).
