This Week in Accessibility: First lawsuit filed over lack of captions in VR
This most recent accessibility litigation evolution has been predicted for the past couple of years by ADA legal experts.
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Dylan Panarra v. HTC Corp — Case 6:20-cv-06991, Filed 11/18/20 in the United States District Court, Western District of New York.
This is just plain, bad #DCX — Disabled Customer Experience.
Case Details
- Dylan Panarra is profoundly deaf.
- Panarra wanted to use Viveport Infinity (defendant HTC’s gaming service) with his Oculus Rift device.
- Panarra is excluded from equal access to Viveport because there are no captions for the audio track.
- Defendant HTC advertises its product as the “Netflix of VR.” Netflix, after litigation, does caption many of their videos.
- Viveport Infinity is the only subscription service that provides unlimited VR content.
It’s not any more complicated than that.
Why this case matters
- Dylan Panarra is not a serial plaintiff.
- Eisenberg & Baum (the firm representing Mr. Panarra) has a Law Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
- HTC is an international company — both the parent company and its American subsidiary are named plaintiffs.
This is a real law firm with a real plaintiff going after a big fish for real discrimination.
This is the type of lawsuit that can make a difference. The plaintiff and his law firm are not litigating the lack of captions exclusively for a payday. They want to change the world.