Sony is aiming to prevent any unnecessary lawsuits via some major amendments to PlayStation Network’s Terms of Service agreement. PSN users will be required to accept the new ToS before they can continue to use the online service.
You can read the changed paragraph below.
"ANY DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCEEDINGS, WHETHER IN ARBITRATION OR COURT, WILL BE CONDUCTED ONLY ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS AND NOT IN A CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION OR AS A NAMED OR UNNAMED MEMBER IN A CLASS, CONSOLIDATED, REPRESENTATIVE OR PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL ACTION, UNLESS BOTH YOU AND THE SONY ENTITY WITH WHICH YOU HAVE A DISPUTE SPECIFICALLY AGREE TO DO SO IN WRITING FOLLOWING INITIATION OF THE ARBITRATION. THIS PROVISION DOES NOT PRECLUDE YOUR PARTICIPATION AS A MEMBER IN A CLASS ACTION FILED ON OR BEFORE AUGUST 20, 2011."
For those who are a little fuzzy on the legal jargon, the new agreement will prevent PSN users from filing class-action lawsuits against the hardware giant. Instead, Sony will work out any disputes with their users on an individual basis first. However, should both parties agree that nothing can be settled one-on-one, then a class-action lawsuit may be filed.
Basically, "before you get all antsy and decide to sue – talk to us first."
One point of interest however, is that this amendment does not affect lawsuits that were filed prior to August 20, 2011.
You can view the full document here.