Hi @djravenwolfe
Welcome to the forum 
Iâm not a legal expert either, but looking into the ToS this is how I read it:
Player Data & Licensing â Summary
-
Who owns the data?
You, the player, still own your submitted content (e.g. wayspot nominations, photos, titles). -
What rights does Niantic get?
When you submit content, you give Niantic a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free license to:
___ Use, modify, display, and distribute it.
___ Transfer or sublicense those rights to other companies.
___ What happens in a carve-out or sale?
If Niantic gives/sells the data to another company (Scopely at the moment), that company gets the same usage rights.
___ Can the data be passed further?
Yes. If Company A (Scopely in this case) later gives it to Company B, the data can be used by Company B too â legally â because of the sublicensable and transferable license originally granted.
___ Can the player stop this?
No. Once you submit data, you canât revoke or limit how itâs shared or reused down the chain.
1. The Chain of Licensing Rights
When you submit data to Niantic you grant them a license that is:
- Perpetual (lasts forever),
- Transferable (they can pass it on),
- Sublicensable (they can let someone else use it too).
- Royalty free (they donât need to pay you for it)
So:
- You â Niantic (original license).
- Niantic â Scopely (via carve-out, sale, partnership).
- Scopely â Company B (via their own carve-out or sublicense).
Because the license is transferable and sublicensable, this chain is legally allowed, unless Nianticâs agreement with Scopely explicitly prevents it (which we as players canât see).
2. Playerâs Role in This Chain
- The player has no veto power once the original license is granted.
- The data could end up being used by Company B, C, D⌠and so on, all under the original license terms.
- The player still âownsâ the data, but has no control over these downstream uses.
3. Real-World Parallel
Itâs like you take a photo and give a friend a license to use it however they want, including the right to let others use it. If that friend gives it to their friend, and that friend uses it in a commercialâitâs all legal, because you allowed that from the start.
Conclusion
Yes, if Niantic gives a copy/license to Company A, and Company A passes it to Company B, then Company B can legally use your data, based on the original license you granted to Niantic â unless some internal restriction was added that you donât see.
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Hello Everyone. Writing my first post to share my views on this 
I enjoy playing Ingress and Pokemon Go not only to get out and explore more but also to nominate places so other players get the same benefit as me if they are accepted such as new portals and pokestops/gyms especially in more rural areas.
I must admit it will be annoying to have to submit twice for both games but hopefully Ingress will be the same process. I also enjoy using wayfarer to review other people and check the ingress intel map to get inspiration on what could be a possible wayspot
I hope that the distance/ submit limits are changed for both games as 40 nominations and a short distance is a bit annoying when i have things to submit and either i have no nominations left or its just outside the distance limit and there will also possibly be less nominations to review after the split
Also hope that Niantic Spatial will bring in a reviewing system similar to the current wayfarer one as i would continue to use wayfarer and the other review system to help more wayspots appear across both games
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Maybe this means we can clean up the map to remove wayspots like âcool tree stumpâ.
***Mod edit to remove unnecessary game reference
General reminder about being respectful to each other as its a long topic. 
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What many still donât understand, and I certainly do not understand in legal terms
With the buy out by Scopely, Niantic has now ceased to exist.
All Niantic branding in the acquisition needs to reflect the new owner.
Any and all nominations since then require Scopely to put out a new license agreement with players.This hasnât happened, therefore ownership by a non-existent entity by proxy, in my mind invalidates said proxy ownership clause, which means that players currently own their data in that database.
Did you sign an agreement with Scopely?
No Pogo has, and certainly no Ingress player has signed any agreement with Scopely either.
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Iâm almost 100% positive Niantic and Scopley has some really smart Attorneys who figured this out long before you or I even heard about this. I think you are barking up the wrong tree. You are not going to get compensated or be able to tell either company what they can or cannot do with your photos and scan.
I understand where you are coming from, but I highly doubt someone is going to read the forum and go⌠ooooppps @Grogyan is right. Weâre busted. Just my 2 cents.
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Are you sure? I suspect someone realised their mistake and should have taken @Grogyan expert advice.
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Will there be a more comprehensive map of pokestops and gyms for people to use, similar to the IITC for Ingress? I understand that once the split happens the shared map userscripts a lot of our communities built to keep track of/plan for pokestop nominations will no longer work, and those userscripts have played a vital role in optimizing my Wayfarer experience. It would be a shame if my ability to plan Wayspot nominations took a massive hit like this with no alternative.
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Anyone know why this thread has been marked as solved? Arenât we still discussing this? Any mods wish to check this out?
I did see the Ingress post today, and not surprised that Campfire and Niantic ID wonât be supported in the future. Also not surprised Facebook wonât be a supported login (it has its issues). Just would like to hear more from Spatial about what we are to expect in the future, especially when it comes to mapping.
In Nianticâs ToS, Section 5.2 outlines the license you grant to Niantic when you submit user content. The relevant excerpt states:
âBy making any User Content available through Services you hereby grant to Niantic a non-exclusive, transferable, sublicensable, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual license to use, copy, modify, create derivative works based upon, publicly display, publicly perform, market, promote, and distribute your User Content in connection with operating and providing the Services.â
This section specifies that the license is:
⢠Non-exclusive: You retain ownership and can use your content elsewhere.
⢠Transferable: Niantic can transfer the license to another party.
⢠Sublicensable: Niantic can grant sublicenses to others.
⢠Worldwide: The license applies globally.
⢠Royalty-free: Niantic doesnât owe you payment for using your content.
⢠Perpetual: The license has no expiration.
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Itâs a little strange as Iâm getting emails for recent nominations being accepted, knowing at some point, one of those will be my last PokĂŠStop.
I nominate 95% of the time through Ingress, and just use PokĂŠmon GO when I run out. Often Iâm nominating things on walk with family or friends so I hang back for a few moments to take the photos and write a description of gibberish or âlaterâ to edit later on.
I canât see that Iâll do that twice, having to open another app and follow a similar process to do it again.
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The answer is: no one really knows. The purchase finalizes at the end of the year.
Can you at least raise nomination radius to 25 km like in ingress?
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One question I have. For those of us who have submissions in our queue that hoped it would make it into both games, and for those of us who donât have any upgrades, will there be an opportunity to get them fast-tracked for review so that both games might be able to get the Wayspots?
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I kinda doubt it because submission is being added constantly. No matter how many u clear, another batch of submission is coming in. Its never ending job. Unless they stop submission amd focus on clearing all queue
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It was said that the transition will be in the coming weeks/months so I think you have some time to earn upgrades and get your stuff through the system.
Must have missed it.
I would think thatâs up to the PokĂŠmon GO team to decide
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It was unmarked, so I donât think we, as users, need to investigate. Thatâs up to staff and mods to look into. I just wanted to point it out as it may cause a stop in the discussion. It was taken care of pretty quickly after I posted.
And Spatial no longer owns Wayfarer, so I donât expect them to post here. The Ingress update was nice, but these updates have been taking awhile since the sale was announced. Letâs hope it doesnât take until the end of the year.