It’s no secret that Bungie, the studio behind Destiny 2, has been fighting cheaters recently, even going to court to seek millions of dollars in damages from the most egregious offenders.
Defendants in these cases are typically individuals or businesses who distribute or otherwise profit from cheating software.
This week, a judge sided with Bungie in another win, however this time the case included only one cheater.
However, the consequences were severe: the offender had to pay Bungie $500,000 and was permanently barred from accessing the Bungie game library.
The ruling, first published by TorrentFreak, may seem severe at first glance, especially considering that the accused cheater was just 17 years old when the lawsuit was initially filed a year ago.
The accused, who goes by the name Luca Leone, is notorious for his habitual use of cheating software. A restraining order was issued after Leone ignored many prohibitions and then threatened to physically harm Bungie employees.
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The lawsuit claimed that Leone like other cheaters Bungie’s legal team has taken on in the past had broken copyright law by using cheat software that included a graphical overlay owned by Bungie, and that the use of “injected code” had created “unauthorized derivative work” in violation of US copyright law.
Each new account Leone made to circumvent a ban cost him money, as did downloading the game multiple times without paying for it.
As a result of the copyright violation, Bungie is entitled to $300,000 in statutory damages, and an additional $200,000 is due for 100 instances of ban evasion at $2,000 each occurrence.
In addition, Leone is not allowed to:
- using any form of cheating software that could potentially damage Bungie-owned assets
- Using Bungie-owned Game Content
- Having any kind of contact with a Bungie game
- direct or indirect harassment of Bungie staff
- direct or indirect harassment of Bungie gaming players.
- close proximity to any Bungie building within a mile
- intentionally venturing within a mile of any residence occupied by a Bungie employee
Leone is also required to remove all references to Bungie, his attempts to cheat, or his campaign against Bungie staff from any of his social media profiles.
Some Destiny players are worried that the legal precedent set by Bungie’s previous copyright infringement trials may make it harder to punish cheaters in the future.
While their Fallout 76 user interface tweaks aren’t cheats, they do meet the description used in Bungie’s case against Leone, and one Reddit user pointed out that rulings like this may see unwary game modders facing similar accusations.