Developer Bungie has just won its lawsuit against cheating software.
AimJunkies will have to pay several million dollars to the creator of Destiny 2.
No mercy for cheaters
In June 2021, the American Bungie filed a complaint against the company Phoenix Digital, the origin of the AimJunkies software, for having violated the anti-circumvention provision of the DMCA (the American legislation against computer piracy). In April 2022, a federal court in Seattle partially dismissed the claims, saying Bungie had failed to sufficiently demonstrate how the cheat software constituted an infringement.
However, at the start of 2023, the Washington Federal Court ruled in favor of Bungie. The developer will thus soon be able to receive more than 4 million dollars in damages and other legal costs.
No less than $4.39 million for Bungie
Indeed, according to Judge Ronald Cox, the evidence filed by Bungie clearly shows that AimJunkies and third-party developer James May willfully circumvented Bungie’s technical protection measures, in violation of the DMCA.
The latter were also found guilty of developing and marketing cheat software, with more than 1,300 copies officially retained by the court and $2,500 in fines for each copy of the software sold. Phoenix Digital Group was also ordered to pay Bungie’s legal and procedural costs, amounting to more than $700,000. In total, the publisher should recover $4.39 million in damages.
In its defense, Phoenix Digital Group explains for its part that the Bungie company has also violated the DMCA by reverse-engineering the cheat software in question, so as to understand and prevent its operation. To see now if the judges will accept the argument of an illegal reverse-engineering procedure on a cheat software itself illegal at the origin.
Source : Torrent Freak
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