 Just two days ago we informed you that PokerStars has launched a full out legal attack on controversial data-mining website Poker Table Ratings, claiming infringement of intellectual property rights and breach of the terms and conditions of the poker room. PokerStars started the offensive by sending a Cease and Desist letter, and it looks like it was just enough - less then 48h after PokerStars took those actions, PTR.com removed all PokerStars player profiles from their service and released an official statement.
PokerStars player profiles are now unavailable, displaying only a message to "contact Stars support if you would like your profile made public".
Official comment from PokerStars:
"PokerStars has consistently said that if a player wishes to share his online playing results with the public that is a matter between him and any site which provides that data. But if a player doesn’t want his results shared in public, they shouldn’t be. We have codified this in our Terms of Service regarding prohibited programs.
We have taken a two-prong approach against data-mining sites such as PTR.
First, we have taken technical steps to prevent sites from data-mining our hands. Without going into detail, we have modified the software multiple times to make it more difficult for third parties to record hand histories from our tables. Every time we have done this, PTR has responded by modifying their software to neutralize our change. We could take drastic steps to win this “arms race”, but such steps would harm the playing experience of our legitimate players. Obviously we would prefer not to do that.
Our second prong has been through legal channels. We have repeatedly contacted sites such as PTR and asked them to stop providing data about our players unless those players opt in to their program. PTR has never responded to these requests. There have been a number of updates in the last 24 hours, which I will cover at the end of this document.
PokerStars is the largest enterprise in the online poker world. We have a responsibility to ourselves, our industry, and most importantly to the online poker player community to care for the entire online poker ecosystem. We have made every effort to get PTR to “play by the rules”; they have ignored us, and actively countered our defensive efforts, at every turn. But we are committed to providing our players the privacy that they deserve and the online poker industry the protection it needs.
On April 18th, 2012, the ISP hosting Poker Table Ratings (“PTR”) agreed to PokerStars’ “cease and desist” request and stopped providing service for PTR. The ISP agreed that PTR was infringing on PokerStars’ intellectual property rights. Shortly thereafter, PTR resurfaced on a different ISP. However, late on April 18th, PTR published an announcement on their blog that "[We] will fully adhere to the cease and desist notice by Stars, though we do not believe that we are a disservice to the online poker community.
Our legal team is reviewing PTR’s statement and will decide how to proceed. We will, of course, continue to communicate with the poker media and player community about this matter.
Full release from PokerTableRating.com:
"Whether we are providing replays of infamous hot streaks, colossal downswings, finding critical security breaches in poker software clients or publicly outing bot and collusion rings for the sake of game integrity, PokerTableRatings has had a long history of being actively involved in the online poker community.
Recent contact by Stars has led to the removal of this network’s player profiles from PTR. The current management team of PTR has been in place for just under a year and since day 1 we have been exploring ways to compromise with brands in order to create positive relationships for the betterment of the community. Through these valued partnerships we have created innovative promotions and features for our users and have many more in development. Unfortunately we have been unable to gain communication with Stars during this time and it has come to a hostile dissolution of service for this brand. They have taken formal action against us and we will comply with their demands and have the brand removed from the site.
The most contentious aspects of PTR seem to be the premium services we provide, namely player stats, however when compared to widely-accepted poker HUDs from other software providers, we believe the differences are negligible. Tools exist to give advantages to players who know how to use them and who are willing to pay for them, plain and simple and these will not go away. Players will always be looking for advantages and we are just one of many services offering an advantage.
That said, we will fully adhere to the cease and desist notice by Stars, though we do not believe that we are a disservice to the online poker community. We continue to search and most importantly detect bot rings month after month and provide information about these true game-breaking activities to brands that care about the integrity of their games. We’ve provided unrivaled publicity to players who have gone on to become sponsored celebrities of the online poker world and we have given all players a public forum to show off their impressive wins or gain sympathy for their crushing defeats.
We still fully believe in our product and will continue to introduce new and exciting features to our customers. We have been actively developing new tools that will give more control and ownership of profiles to their respective players so that PTR can be a service that every poker player would be proud to use. The latest events, though a disruption in our plans, do not derail them. Our team is committed to evolving PTR even further in order to continue to provide hundreds of thousands of members of the online poker community with valued services and tools to keep the game of poker fun and engaging for all."
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