Bungie, the creator of Destiny 2, has gained a landmark legal victory after a Seattle jury found AimJunkies, a cheat software creator and distributor, liable for copyright infringement.
The jury also ordered the company and its three owners to pay damages to the video game company. Furthermore, there is an independent cheat developer whose counterclaim, which alleges that Bungie "hacked" his computer, was denied.
Bungie Wins Lawsuit Against Cheat Maker
(Photo : Bungie / Screenshot taken from official website)
The company first filed a complaint at a federal court in Seattle three years ago where it accused AimJunkies of copyright and trademark infringement, among others.
The same accusations were made against Phoenix Digital Group, which is the operating company behind the website, and third-party developer James May.
The cheating software creator and distributor denied the claims and argued that cheating is not against the law.
On top of this, it refuted the copyright infringement allegations, saying that they lacked substance because some of the referenced copyrights were registered well after the cheats were first made available, according to TorrentFreak.
The case went to trial this week after years of legal twists and turns and had both sides presenting their arguments in court. AimJunkies stressed, among other things, that the defendants never touched any of Destiny 2's copyrighted game code.
The jury, on top of deciding over the copyright infringement claims, also had to rule on the counterclaim from May. The third-party developer denied being responsible for coding the cheat and alleged that Bungie "hacked" his computer.
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Following the finalization of the hearings, the jury in the case released its verdict late Friday, where it found all defendants liable for direct, vicarious, and contributory copyright infringement. It also ordered Phoenix Digital Group and all individual defendants to pay Bungie totaling $63,210.
Bungie counsel James Barker released a statement saying that the video game company was committed to its players and will continuously work to protect them against cheats, including the one that AimJunkies made and future cases all the way to trial, said The Verge.
Jury Finds Defendants Liable of Copyright Infringement
In 2021, the case between Bungie and AimJunkies went to arbitration and saw the video game company winning $4 million. The latest development also includes Phoenix Digital Group founder David Schaefer saying that he will move to dismiss the jury's verdict and appeal if needed.
Bungie's legal win may only mean pocket change but it does put a jury on record regarding the legality of creating cheats. This is what makes the latest decision more significant than the $63,210 that the company was awarded.
Video game developers suing cheat makers is not something that is new and Bungie has led the charge in lawsuits against these services. The latter has become professionalized in recent years, where cheats are sold for specific games on a subscription basis.
Cheat manufacturers typically have folded immediately in the face of legal pressure similar to what the Destiny 2 developer has brought. The main issue with these kinds of lawsuits is that cheating itself is not against the law,
This means that developers who sue cheat makers will have to prove that reverse engineering a game to produce the cheats violates a developer's copyright, according to PCGamer.
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