News Fortnite cheater fined $175,000 for using cheats to win $6,850 in competitive tournaments — Epic bans player forever

[Admin]

Epic has won a legal lawsuit against a Fortnite player who consistently cheated in competitive tournaments and now owes the company $175,000 after ignoring a lawsuit filed last year.

Fortnite cheater fined $175,000 for using cheats to win $6,850 in competitive tournaments — Epic bans player forever : Read more

 

[coolitic]

More...

MORE!

 

[derekullo]

They won't collect anything and despite being banned he can still create accounts when his other one gets banned ... as he has already done lol.

 

[Dr3ams]

Too bad Ubisoft doesn't do the same for cheaters in The Division 2. PVP in the Darkzones isn't worth the time because of cheaters.

 

[Brainle55]

We ban "cheaters" (all of them?) from games, the futility!
It's a shame we don't do something useful just once for the good of the population: do it in politics!

Hmm, okay, okay, there wouldn't be anyone left...

 

[AtrociKitty]

Epic secured a default judgment of $168,550 for DMCA and Copyright Act violations

Absolutely dystopian. It always disturbs me when people cheer these sorts of rulings because they're stapled to the "cheater" label.

The landmark Game Genie lawsuit back in 1992 found runtime code modification to be legal and fair use. But fast forward to today, and it has become commonplace for companies to sue cheat programmers and distributors. This same interpretation of the law endangers mods and fan projects, which are now likewise considered copyright violations, even if not always pursued by the copyright holders.

Don't stop hating cheaters, but cheats and the act of cheating should never be a copyright violation.

 

[SomeoneElse23]

Absolutely dystopian. It always disturbs me when people cheer these sorts of rulings because they're stapled to the "cheater" label.

The landmark Game Genie lawsuit back in 1992 found runtime code modification to be legal and fair use. But fast forward to today, and it has become commonplace for companies to sue cheat programmers and distributors. This same interpretation of the law endangers mods and fan projects, which are now likewise considered copyright violations, even if not always pursued by the copyright holders.

Don't stop hating cheaters, but cheats and the act of cheating should never be a copyright violation.

It is indeed a violation of DMCA.

However, DMCA shouldn't exist.

The jury should have tossed that one out.

(The don't want you to know that jury nullification of that 'we the people' don't agree with is legit.)

 

[64-bit dreamer]

The game genie example is poor and your modding justification is kinda shortsighted.

1) DMCA didn't exist in 1992 when that verdict happened so the court could not have judged this case based on that standard. 2)Technology is immensely more advanced than it was 3 decades ago and that has changed gaming. 3) Modders and fan projects arent innocent either. I've seen many of immoral and unethical mods and projects (along with websites/forums dedicated to them) and its only natural that a company wouldnt want their copyrighted property associated with that nonsense.

But I get you. Not everyone is cheating or creating bad things. Your issue then should be the ones messing it up for everyone, not the laws that hold them accountable.

 

[ianbalgas]

The landmark Game Genie lawsuit back in 1992 found runtime code modification to be legal and fair use. But fast forward to today, and it has become commonplace for companies to sue cheat programmers and distributors. This same interpretation of the law endangers mods and fan projects, which are now likewise considered copyright violations, even if not always pursued by the copyright holders.

You... do realize that these things you've listed generally aren't a problem at all until they modify source code? Y'know, since the source code is copyrighted, and there's not really a legal avenue for the average joe to get the source code for any given game... The court case is hardly relevant, as it deals with single player, buy-and-own games, not free to play online multiplayer games, and certainly not tournaments based on them. Not to mention that the license agreement he signed in order to play in the first place lays it out pretty clearly;

Spoiler

You may not do or attempt to do any of the following with respect to the Software or any of its parts: (a) use it commercially or for a promotional purpose except as Epic expressly authorizes; (b) copy, reproduce, distribute (including via a network server), display, or use it in a way that is not expressly authorized in this Agreement; (c) sell, rent, lease, license, distribute, or otherwise transfer it; (d) reverse engineer, derive source code from, modify, adapt, translate, decompile, or disassemble it or make derivative works based on it; (e) remove, disable, circumvent, or modify any proprietary notice or label or security technology included in it; (f) create, develop, distribute, or use any unauthorized software programs to gain advantage in any online or other game modes; (g) use it to infringe or violate the rights of any third party, including but not limited to any intellectual property, publicity, or privacy rights; (h) use, export, or re-export it in violation of any applicable law or regulation

Say what you will of copyright, but this is clear cut and hardly even a copyright issue. Don't show up to your local library, start writing in the margins of books and then complain if you're kicked out and sued. The guy ruined almost 1000 cash tournaments for who knows how many players. It's indefensible.