One of the most frustrating aspects of DMCA notices outside the usual complaints aired by rightsholders, is their ability to trigger policies that assume notices are accurate and in some cases, should be blindly obeyed.

Certainly, if the sender of a bogus notice puts in enough effort, the end result can be the removal of whatever material appears in the notice, even when sent to the largest platforms most familiar with fraudulent claims.

In March 2022, someone began sending DMCA notices to YouTube, claiming that the content listed in the notices infringed the rights of videogame developer Bungie. YouTube removed the videos, some of which belonged to high-profile Destiny content creators. Other notices targeted Bungie’s own channels, yet fingers of blame soon pointed toward the company itself, compelling Bungie to defend its reputation and clean up the mess.

Impressive Investigation, Culprit Found

During the early days of its investigation, Bungie revealed that the notices sent to YouTube came from a fraudulent Google account; the username was crafted to give the appearance it was sent by a Bungie anti-piracy partner. Bungie also filed a full-blown lawsuit in the United States which is currently in its third year.

The lawsuit alleged that the bogus copyright complaints not only disrupted Bungie’s gaming community, it caused “nearly incalculable damage” to Bungie itself. The language deployed in the complaint was unusually aggressive , noting that one of its key aims was to “demonstrate to anyone else stupid enough to volunteer as a Defendant by targeting Bungie’s community for similar attack that they will be met by legal process.”

In June 2022, Bungie filed an amended complaint which demanded $7.65m in damages against a YouTuber called Lord Nazo, aka Nicholas Minor.

Not only had Bungie’s investigation tracked down the culprit, the details were laid out in unusual detail in the amended complaint. Bungie methodically followed the online trails, capitalized on the YouTuber’s mistakes, and then identified, located and named Minor as their defendant.

Among other things, the investigation showed how persistent email addresses, used across multiple sites, one of which was the victim of a data breach, critically undermined any assumption of anonymity. Bungie was ultimately able to match a confirmed email address with a historic content purchase, made through an account that carried Minor’s full name and physical address.

Trigger For the Takedown Campaign

In his deposition, Minor confirmed that the seeds of the campaign were planted when Bungie sent him a takedown notice via YouTube. The video had been hosted on his channel for eight years without issue, so convinced the notice was fraudulent, he sought help from YouTube hoping to get it restored.

When that failed to produce any results, a “confused” and “angry” Minor decided to “raise awareness” of transparency issues in the DMCA takedown process by filing bogus DMCA notices against legitimate videos uploaded by members of Bungie’s online community.

Minor reportedly accepts that he “gravely messed up and fully accept[s] that this is [his] fault” but claims he was “oblivious to the reprehensible damages [he] was causing to the community.”

Summary Judgment

In December 2023, Bungie filed a motion for summary judgment on the DMCA component of its overall claim. Minor did not oppose the motion but did appear in the case as required, including for his deposition and to provide discovery responses.

“The undisputed record before the Court shows that Minor violated the DMCA by knowingly, intentionally, and materially misrepresenting to YouTube that the takedown notifications were authorized by Bungie and that the material itself was infringing,” Senior District Judge Marsha J. Pechman notes in her judgment issued last week.

“Bungie has provided evidence that the materials at issue did not violate its IP Policy, and that the DMCA notices were not properly issued. And, crucially, Minor admits that he had no authority to issue the notices, that he intentionally and knowingly issued the notices, and that he ‘gravely messed up.'”

Referencing Section 512 of the DMCA, Judge Pechman notes that the evidence shows that Minor’s violations were intentional, and that he lacked a subjective, good faith belief that the targeted material was infringing.

“Bungie has also provided evidence that the fraudulent notices harmed its reputation and caused it to devote significant resources to attempt to remediate the harm. The Court therefore GRANTS summary judgment in Bungie’s favor on this claim and GRANTS the Motion,” the judgment adds.

Not Over Yet, Possibly Not For a Long Time

The Court notes that the judgment is partial since it does not resolve the question of damages, costs, and attorneys’ fees Bungie will likely claim in due course. The amount could be significant and at least in public, Bungie has shown few signs of mercy recently.

Then there are the rest of Bungie’s claims in this matter. They include false designation under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a), copyright infringement under 17 U.S.C. § 501, business defamation, violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act, and breach of contract.

The order granting partial summary judgment is available here (pdf)

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Over the past several years, a wave of copyright infringement lawsuits has targeted alleged cheaters and cheat makers.

Game companies have emerged as relatively swift victors in cases that never went to trial, but that’s not a given.

The legal dispute between American video game developer Bungie and AimJunkies.com has been fiercely fought and next week heads to a jury trial.

Two years ago, Bungie filed a complaint at a federal court in Seattle, accusing AimJunkies of copyright and trademark infringement, among other things. The same allegations were made against Phoenix Digital Group, the alleged creators of the Destiny 2 cheating software.

The case initially seemed set for a quick settlement, but the parties failed to reach an agreement. Instead, Bungie pressed on while AimJunkies went on the defensive, asking the court to dismiss several claims.

AimJunkies argued that cheating isn’t against the law and refuted the copyright infringement allegations; these lacked any substance and were ungrounded because some of the referenced copyrights were registered well after the cheats were first made available, AimJunkies argued.

Dismissal, Hacking and Arbitration

Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Zilly largely sided with AimJunkies . The original complaint failed to provide sufficient evidence for a plausible claim that the ‘Destiny 2 Hacks’ infringed copyright.

This was bad news for Bungie but the court did offer the company the option to file a new complaint to address these shortcomings, which it did soon after .

Meanwhile, AimJunkies wasn’t sitting idly by. The cheat seller filed a countersuit , accusing Bungie of hacking when it allegedly accessed a defendant’s computer without permission. This hacking counterclaim was eventually dismissed .

Bungie scored its first major win earlier this year in an arbitration proceeding. Judge Ronald Cox concluded that the cheaters violated the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision and related trafficking restrictions, awarding $3.6 million in damages to the game company.

The arbitration ruling is still under appeal and with the battle being fought on multiple fronts, attention shifted back to the federal lawsuit once more, where Bungie continued its copyright and trademark claims this summer.

In July, the game company submitted motions for summary judgment to resolve the copyright infringement dispute before trial. However, the court denied these motions, as there is no hard evidence that any game code was copied. Instead, a jury would have to decide.

Jury Trial

After several years, the dispute is about to reach its climax in a District Court in Seattle, where a jury trial is expected to start next week. This is the first time that a case like this will go before a jury, making it a landmark event.

At the core of the dispute is whether AimJunkies engaged in direct, vicarious, or contributory copyright infringement. If that’s found to be the case, the next question is whether Bungie is entitled to an award for damages.

For AimJunkies, the upcoming trial also raises some concerns. Specifically, the defendant is worried about the negative connotation of the term “cheating”. This may signal to the jury that the activity is legally improper, contrary to the defendant’s legal position.

To prevent confusion, the cheat maker asked the court to ban any mentions of the word “cheat” or “cheat software”, but the request was denied.

Defenses & Counterclaim

At trial, AimJunkies hopes to convince the jury that the cheating software it sold wasn’t infringing any copyrights. In fact, the defendants will claim that they merely sold the software; it was created by an unnamed third party.

“The software at issue here was created by parties other than Defendants. Defendants did not have access to the software Bungie accuses them of copying,” defendants note in a pretrial statement.

“No software created, developed, marketed, advertised, sold or otherwise distributed by Defendants infringes any copyright of Bungie,” AimJunkies’ attorney adds.

The cheat sellers are not the only party on the defensive. Third-party developer James May filed a counterclaim accusing Bungie of circumventing the DMCA by accessing personal files on his computer. Bungie, however, argues that it did nothing wrong.

Bungie might have accessed the developer’s computer, but the company states that none of the files that were allegedly accessed are copyrighted.

“None of the works allegedly accessed by Bungie are works protected by copyright […]. Bungie did not circumvent any of May’s technological measures that protect any files on his computer,” the game company writes in its pretrial statement.

Overall, the arguments from both sides are a guarantee for an intriguing trial. And although AimJunkies is a relatively small player in the broader ‘cheating’ ecosystem, the jury verdict will likely resonate in many gaming communities.

—

A copy of the pretrial order cited in this article, which includes additional argument from both sides, is available here (pdf)

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Bungie’s interest in individuals linked to Destiny 2 cheat maker and distributor, Ring-1, became public in 2021.

A lawsuit filed at a California court named four defendants as suspected operators with an additional 50 ‘Doe’ defendants to be unmasked as the case progressed.

Six causes of action including copyright infringement, trafficking in circumvention devices contrary to the DMCA, trademark violations, and unfair competition, encouraged three defendants to settle with Bungie. However, with Ring-1 still in business, more work lay ahead.

New Lawsuit, New Determination

Filed at a Washington court early August 2023, a new complaint alleging copyright infringement, breaches of the DMCA, and civil RICO violations, among others, targeted up to 50 developers, marketers, customer support staff, and sellers of Destiny 2 cheating software offered by Ring-1.

According to the complaint , Bungie’s investigative work had already identified several defendants by name, while others were known only by their online handles. During September and October, identified defendants were served in West Virginia , Delaware , and Ontario, Canada , but in order to identify and serve more, on October 27, Bungie requested assistance from the court.

“Like the cheat itself, the Enterprise is sophisticated and its members go to great lengths to conceal their identities,” Bungie’s motion for expedited discovery explained.

“Many Defendants do not provide any contact information such as a physical address, email address, or phone number, and conduct their transactions entirely pseudonymously. Defendants also use privacy protection services to hide their names and contact information from the public domain name WHOIS database.”

Third Parties Likely to Hold Identifying Information

While those personal details had proven evasive up to that point, Bungie informed the court that it had been able to identify several third parties with past, current, or ongoing relationships with those it hoped to identify. Those parties, Bungie said, were likely to have records “uniquely attributable” to the unidentified defendants, and these would either directly or indirectly allow Bungie to identify and then serve its targets.

In respect of the Ring-1 website, Bungie named Nice IT Services Company (host), Digital Ocean (payment-related subdomains), and Telegram (support) as service providers that allow it to operate.

In connection with six alleged operators of Ring-1 (“Hastings,” “Khaleesi,” “Cypher,” “god,” “C52YOU,” and “Lelabowers74”), Bungie identified a further seven third party service providers upon which the Ring-1 operators reportedly rely; Twitch and YouTube (advertising), Streamlabs (enhance revenue, broaden reach) and Steam, where the defendants allegedly play Destiny 2.

Other providers include Yahoo and Live (where Hastings has email accounts), Google (where Khaleesi has a Gmail address), and Discord; according to Bungie, the alleged Ring-1 operators used to chat there before deleting their server in July 2021.

Bungie’s investigations reportedly identified accounts at ISPs connected to Hastings and Khaleesi; the former at Verizon and Comcast in the United States and the latter at Virgin Media and Sky Broadband in the UK. Five Ring-1 resellers identified by Bungie operated various services including Discord servers, websites, plus Twitter and YouTube accounts.

As a result, these third parties plus domain registrars Squarespace and GoDaddy, and e-commerce platform Sellix, are likely to hold identifying information, Bungie informed the court (sample of proposed order below) .

Order Granted in Part, Denied in Part

Having considered Bungie’s rather broad motion, United States Magistrate Judge Michelle L. Peterson handed down her order this Wednesday.

While most of Bungie’s requests were found to be “narrowly tailored” to seek identifying information, requests to serve third-party subpoenas to Cloudflare, Storely, Selly, and “any other third-party Plaintiff identifies to be providing services of any kind to any one or more of the Defendants” were described as unsupported or overbroad.

Even with these denials and especially considering the number of services involved, Bungie’s narrowly tailored request could prove pivotal for the entire case. As such, unless extreme caution was exercised at all times, it will only be a matter of time before Bungie begins serving additional defendants.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Two years ago, Bungie filed a complaint at a federal court in Seattle, accusing AimJunkies.com of copyright and trademark infringement, among other things.

The same accusations were also made against Phoenix Digital Group, the operating company behind the website, and third-party developer James May.

AimJunkies denied the claims and argued that cheating isn’t against the law . In addition, it refuted the copyright infringement allegations; these lacked substance because some of the referenced copyrights were registered well after the cheats were first made available, AimJunkies said.

AimJunkies Strikes First

Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Zilly handed an early and partial win to AimJunkies . The original complaint didn’t provide sufficient evidence for a plausible claim that the ‘Destiny 2 Hacks’ infringed any copyrights, the Judge concluded.

This was a setback for Bungie, but the court allowed the game developer to amend its complaint, which it promptly did. As a result, the copyright infringement dispute is currently ongoing and progressing to trial.

During 2022, Judge Zilly also referred several of the non-copyright-related complaints to arbitration, including allegations that AimJunkies’ cheats violated the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision and were illegally sold to third parties.

Bungie Wins Arbitration ‘Battle’

The arbitration process was conducted behind the scenes and resulted in a resounding win for the game developer; Bungie was awarded a total of nearly $4.4 million in damages and fees .

The bulk of the award was DMCA-related damages. According to arbitration Judge Ronald Cox, the evidence made it clear that AimJunkies and third-party developer James May bypassed Bungie’s technical protection measures in violation of the DMCA.

In addition to breaching the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions, the defendants were also found liable for trafficking in circumvention devices. Or, put differently, selling and shipping the cheats.

AimJunkies Files ‘Arbitration’ Appeal

The AimJunkies defendants were disappointed in the arbitration outcome and decided to challenge it at the Court of Appeals. In an opening brief, filed this week, they maintain that no law forbids cheating in computer games.

Bungie has repeatedly stressed that cheaters are not tolerated as they ruin the pleasure of honest players, which ultimately hurts sales of games such as Destiny 2. However, AimJunkies sees things differently.

“[I]n order for companies such as Bungie to obtain legal relief for any such ‘cheating,’ they, as with any litigant, need to demonstrate violation of an actual law or statute, such as patent or copyright laws, rather than simply shout, ‘Cheaters’ and hope the pejorative alone will be sufficient to establish liability,” the brief reads.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Over the past several years, a wave of copyright infringement lawsuits has targeted alleged cheaters and cheat makers.

Game companies have emerged as relatively swift victors in most of these cases, but that’s not a given.

The legal dispute between American video game developer Bungie and AimJunkies.com has turned into a drawn-out battle.

Two years ago, Bungie filed a complaint at a federal court in Seattle, accusing AimJunkies of copyright and trademark infringement, among other things. The same allegations were made against Phoenix Digital Group, the alleged creators of the Destiny 2 cheating software.

The case initially seemed set for a quick settlement, but the parties failed to reach an agreement. Instead, Bungie pressed on while AimJunkies went on the defensive, asking the court to dismiss several claims.

AimJunkies argued that cheating isn’t against the law . In addition, it refuted the copyright infringement allegations; these lacked any substance and were ungrounded because some of the referenced copyrights were registered well after the cheats were first made available, AimJunkies argued.

Dismissal, Hacking and Arbitration

Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Zilly largely sided with AimJunkies . The original complaint failed to provide sufficient evidence for a plausible claim that the ‘Destiny 2 Hacks’ infringed any copyrights.

This was bad news for Bungie but the court did offer the company the option to file a new complaint to address these shortcomings, which it did soon after .

Meanwhile, AimJunkies wasn’t sitting idly by. The cheat seller filed a countersuit , accusing Bungie of hacking when it allegedly accessed a defendant’s computer without permission. This hacking counterclaim was eventually dismissed .

Bungie scored its first major win earlier this year in an arbitration proceeding. Judge Ronald Cox concluded that the cheaters violated the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision and related trafficking restrictions, awarding $3.6 million in damages to the game company.

This arbitration ruling is still under appeal and with the battle being fought on multiple fronts, attention shifted back to the federal lawsuit once more, where Bungie continued its copyright and trademark claims this summer.

Bungie’s Sealed Motions for Summary Judgment

In July, the game company submitted motions for summary judgment, which remain sealed and hidden from the broader public to this day. The sealed nature of this request makes it hard to report on but a minute order issued by District Court Judge Thomas S. Zilly last week fills in some of the blanks.

Bungie hoped to resolve the dispute without a trial, arguing that it’s clear that AimJunkies infringed its copyright. The cheat seller had to copy portions of the Destiny 2 game code to create its cheat, Bungie theorized.

In an order released late last week, District Court Judge Thomas Zilly is not convinced of this logic, as there is no hard evidence that any game code was copied. And without that, there’s no ground for a plausible copyright infringement claim.

Copyright Infringement Claim

In his order, Judge Zilly cites testimony from Bungie Engineering Lead, Edward Kaiser, who stated that cheating software couldn’t function without copying portions of the Destiny 2 code. However, that argument was little more than a well-informed theory; there is no proof.

“Notably, Dr. Kaiser is not certain that Defendants copied portions of Destiny 2’s copyrighted software code to create the Aimjunkies cheat software, and he explained during his deposition that, based on the available evidence, his opinion is merely ‘the most likely conclusion’,” Judge Zilly writes.

“Defendants deny that they copied any portions of Destiny 2’s software code, and contend that a non-party developer created the Aimjunkies cheat software,” the Judge adds, concluding that the motion for summary judgment on the copyright claims is denied.

Trademark Infringement Claim

In addition to the copyright claim, Bungie also argued that AimJunkies infringed its trademark. The cheat seller did indeed use Destiny 2’s trademark to promote its cheat. However, in order to show that this use is infringing, this use has to cause “consumer confusion”.

According to Judge Zilly, AimJunkies’ use is different than that of a typical counterfeiter, who uses trademarked logos to make a product look identical the original. After all, most cheaters are well aware of the fact that cheats are not sold by the game’s makers.

In fact, Judge Zilly notes that, Bungie’s license agreement -which all legitimate players agree to- explicitly prohibits the use of cheats.

“Unlike the case Bungie cites, involving a handbag, coin purse, and wallet bearing counterfeit reproductions of an accessory designer’s registered marks, in this matter, the mark at issue was used on a product that was different in kind from the one associated with the genuine mark and that Bungie’s online and multiplayer customers had contractually agreed not to use,” Judge Zilly writes.

Based on this reasoning, Bungie’s motion for summary judgment on the trademark infringement claim is denied as well. Instead, the copyright and trademark claims will have to be presented to a jury, at trial.

‘The Day of Reckoning’

Bungie also asked the court to dismiss Aimjunkies’ sealed counterclaims. The court didn’t deny this request outright but deferred it instead.

TorrentFreak reached out to Bungie for a comment on the order but the videogame company didn’t immediately reply.

Behind the scenes, the parties participated in mediation last month, but that was unsuccessful. The trial is currently scheduled to start in December but Bungie informed the court that it would like to extend this date by 120 days.

AimJunkies’ attorney Phil Mann is pleased with Judge Zilly’s decision to deny the motions for summary judgment. Instead of simply accepting Bungie’s theory, the decision is based on actual evidence, which stands in sharp contrast to the arbitration finding, Mann says.

“Unlike Arbitrator Cox, Judge Zilly is a real judge who does not simply accept whatever nonsense a large company and connected law firm puts before him,” Mann tells us.

AimJunkies believes that it has momentum now and the defendants oppose Bungie’s request to delay the trial. According to Mann, Bungie’s case is about to fall apart.

“From day one, we have known that Bungie’s case is a house of cards lacking any legal merit, and have looked forward to getting the truth before a jury. Tellingly, Bungie is now asking to delay the very trial it asked for. Take a guess as to why.

“The day of reckoning is near,” Mann concludes.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Bungie’s copyright infringement-based lawsuits against cheat makers, sellers, and those who use them, have divided opinion in unexpected ways.

While David vs. Goliath battles tend to have the masses cheering for the little guy, many videogame fans have grown tired of their enjoyment being spoiled by people who intentionally set out to spoil it.

The fact that many of these individuals pay out significant sums of money to gain an imaginary upper hand only serves to rub salt in the wounds. In one particularly malicious case, Bungie had clearly seen more than enough.

Familiar Case, Unusual Features

In July 2022, another Bungie lawsuit came to light. It targeted an individual who had deployed cheats in Destiny 2 and as a result, now faced claims of breaching security mechanisms controlling access to a copyrighted work.

For each violation of the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions, Bungie sought $2,500. For modifying the Destiny 2 game, thereby creating an unauthorized derivative work, Bungie was able to demand another $150,000. While complicated enough already, it soon transpired that Bungie had unwittingly sued ‘L.L.’ – a 17-year-old minor.

Luckily for Bungie, the details of the case quickly dispersed any sympathy for the teenager; DMCA claims found themselves overshadowed by allegations of a long-running harassment campaign against Bungie employees. L.L.’s decision to mount a particularly robust defense, absent of any remorse, was completely logical and looked absolutely terrible.

At least in the short term, it wasn’t particularly effective either .

Bungie and Teenage Nemesis Eventually Agree

In a proposed consent judgment and permanent injunction filed at a Washington court early this month, Bungie systematically repeats many of its original allegations, with the defendant quietly nodding along.

The defendant used software to cheat in Destiny 2. That software displayed a graphical overlay in the copyrighted Destiny 2 audiovisual work and injected code to facilitate cheats, thereby creating an unauthorized derivative work, in breach of copyright. The software circumvented Bungie’s technological measures in breach of the DMCA, with each use of that software representing an independent circumvention violation.

Further breaches of the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision took place every time a new account was opened to evade a Bungie ban, and each unlicensed download of Destiny 2 was yet another breach of Bungie’s copyrights. All told, the parties agree that Bungie is entitled to $300,000 in statutory damages for copyright infringement, and a further $200,000 for 100 acts of circumvention at $2,000 each.

Grand total: $500,000 in damages

Permanently cease-and-desist

To ensure no repeat of the defendant’s alleged behavior, a wall of text in the proposed judgment restrains L.L. from having anything to do with any cheat software targeting Bungie-owned properties, having anything to do with any Bungie-related game assets, or interacting with any Bungie game, ever again.

Also prohibited is the direct or indirect harassment of Bungie or its employees, or anyone who plays Bungie games. The defendant cannot travel within 1,000 feet of Bungie’s offices, nor knowingly travel within 1,000 feet of any home of any Bungie employee, “except as is incidental to travel on public highways and roadways for purposes other than to make contact with or otherwise harass” Bungie employees.

L.L. is also required to embark on a comprehensive account deletion mission.

“This permanent injunction is binding against the Defendant worldwide, without regard to the territorial scope of the specific intellectual property rights asserted in the Complaint of the above-captioned case and may be enforced in any court of competent jurisdiction wherever Defendant or their assets may be found,” the consent judgment continues.

With that the parties request that judgment is entered in accordance with the outlined terms, including an award for $500,000 in damages in favor of Bungie. With all necessary lessons learned, the judge’s signature will bring the matter to a close. In theory, at least.

Related documents are available here ( 1 , 2 , pdf)

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

After reading the introduction to Bungie’s latest lawsuit, which targets makers and sellers of Destiny 2 cheats, one gets the impression the developer may be starting to enjoy this fight.

A Bungie-compiled list of online aliases, including PRAGMATICTAX, NOVA, J3STER and CYPHER, are the latest individuals to face legal action for developing, marketing, selling, and providing customer support for, tools that enable cheating in the blockbuster online game, Destiny 2.

Ten named defendants, several of them already identified by both alias and real name, sit atop a pre-allocated space marked ‘JOHN DOES NO. 11-50.’ At this stage of Bungie’s crusade against cheaters and those who enable them, it’s unlikely that space will remain empty for long.

Bungie vs. Ring-1: An Ongoing Saga

The lawsuit filed Tuesday at a Washington court shows a fine-tuning of Bungie’s legal tactics and a determination to finish the mission, even if that requires several bites of the cherry.

Individuals behind cheat maker and distributor, Ring-1, were targeted in a Bungie lawsuit back in 2021 . Bungie listed six causes of action including copyright infringement, trafficking in circumvention devices contrary to the DMCA, trademark violations, and unfair competition.

In February 2023, after reaching settlements with three defendants, a California court rejected Bungie’s request for a $2.2m judgment . With Ring-1 still in business today, Bungie now appears ready to finish the job.

”The days of Destiny 2 cheaters being free to engage in a wholesale assault on the Destiny 2 game and its community without fear of consequences are over”

(Bungie statement in new Ring-1 lawsuit)

Basis For Complaint

The introduction highlights Bungie successes in earlier lawsuits and suggests there’s now little need to establish whether certain types of conduct amount to an offense.

The sale and use of cheat software “violates a raft of federal and state laws, breaches users’ contracts with Bungie, and is a basis for significant tort liability,” Bungie writes. “Cheat manufacture and sale has been repeatedly found to violate copyright law [and] the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions,” the company continues, adding that when defendants are sufficiently organized, RICO violations enter the mix.

RICO violations formed no part of the lawsuit against Ring-1 defendants in 2021, but they certainly do now. Highlighting the refusal of Ring-1 to curtail its activities, Bungie lays down the law.

“Bungie’s litigation, and litigation victories, have not gone unnoticed; they have been widely covered in the gaming industry press and beyond. Defendants, in other words, have been more than placed on notice that their conduct is tortious, wrongful, and in fact illegal, and have had every opportunity to voluntarily cease it,” the complaint reads.

“Instead, the Ring -1 Enterprise has deliberately and willfully continued to engage in that conduct, secure in the belief that they can avoid consequences for it. And the Ring -1 Cheat is particularly dangerous, predicated on an insidious misuse of the hypervisor layer of users’ operating systems that puts their computers and others’ at risk.”

Ring-1 Defendants, From the U.S. to Australia

The investigation mantra “follow the money” appears to have bypassed lead defendant Joshua Fisher. The complaint notes he’s a resident of Birmingham, UK, and the sole proprietor of payment processing company, Paydash. That’s almost correct; Fisher was indeed the sole director of Paydash Limited, at least until it collapsed into liquidation more than a year ago, after failing to file its first set of accounts.

Liquidation documents make no mention of Bungie’s allegations, including the claim that Paydash processed Ring-1 payments while acting as a “middleman reseller” for Ring-1 cheats. Public records show that Paydash’s attempt to remain anonymous by utilizing a London virtual office address were undermined by Fisher’s address disclosures relating to at least one other business. Other defendants made poor choices too.

Bungie claims that defendant Jacob W. Mahuron is a Ring-1 support staffer residing in Delaware, who goes by the username “PragmaticTax” on the Ring-1 forums. Fellow support staffer Matthew Abbott (a/k/a “Nova”) allegedly lives in West Virginia, while David Hastings (J3STER) managed to keep his physical location private.

While there are lessons to be learned about using the same username internet-wide, the above defendants all used Discord. Bungie made a note of their unique IDs so whatever Discord has on file, is likely to be handed over as the case develops.

Other defendants include Travers Rutten (Travers7134), an alleged reseller residing in Brisbane, Australia, and reseller Jesse Watson (jessewatson3944) of ‘physical location unknown’ but resident of the ‘Softaim Express’ Discord server. ‘Calc’ is allegedly a Ring-1 developer, ‘Cypher’a Ring-1 staff member, ‘Khaleesi’ a support staffer, and the list goes on.

“Doe Defendants Nos. 11-50 are persons and parties whose identities are currently unknown to Bungie, but who, upon information and belief, are both complicit in Defendants’ torts and members in fact of Defendants’ racketeering enterprise, including cheat developers, resellers, administrators, and other agents of the enterprise,” Bungie adds.

Bungie Goes For the Jugular

The defendants face allegations of copyright infringement, Civil RICO (racketeering: wire fraud, criminal copyright infringement, money laundering), circumvention of technical measures in violation of the DMCA, violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Breach of Contract, Interference with Contractual Relations, and Civil Conspiracy.

“This conspiracy directly harmed Bungie, through lost business, an injured reputation, and the significant expense of its anti-cheating measures. As a result of the foregoing, Bungie is entitled to an award of damages in an amount to be proven at trial,” Bungie concludes.

Bungie’s complaint can be found here (pdf)

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Two years ago, Bungie filed a complaint at a federal court in Seattle, accusing AimJunkies.com of copyright and trademark infringement, among other things.

The same accusations were also made against Phoenix Digital Group, the alleged creators of the ‘Destiny 2’ cheating software.

AimJunkies denied the claims and argued that cheating isn’t against the law . In addition, it refuted the copyright infringement allegations; these lacked substance because some of the referenced copyrights were registered well after the cheats were first made available, AimJunkies said.

AimJunkies Won Fist Battle

Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Zilly handed an early and partial win to AimJunkies . The original complaint didn’t provide sufficient evidence for a plausible claim that the ‘Destiny 2 Hacks’ infringed any copyrights, the Judge concluded.

This was a setback for Bungie, but the court allowed the game developer to amend its complaint, which it promptly did. As a result, the copyright infringement dispute is currently ongoing and progressing through the legal process.

During 2022, Judge Zilly referred several of the non-copyright-related complaints to arbitration, including allegations that AimJunkies’ cheats violated the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision and were illegally sold to third parties.

Arbitration Judge Sides with Bungie

The arbitration process was conducted behind the scenes and resulted in a resounding win for the game developer; Bungie was awarded a total of nearly $4.4 million in damages and fees .

The bulk of the award was DMCA-related damages. According to arbitration Judge Ronald Cox, the evidence made it clear that AimJunkies and third-party developer James May bypassed Bungie’s technical protection measures in violation of the DMCA.

In addition to breaching the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions, the defendants were also found liable for trafficking in circumvention devices. Or, put differently, selling and shipping the cheats.

The DMCA circumvention and trafficking violations total nearly $3.6 million in damages with the remainder of the $4.4 million consisting of fees and costs.

Aimjunkies Files Appeal

AimJunkies opposed the arbitration outcome but U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Zilly ultimately denied these objections and confirmed the arbitration order last month.

That could have been the end of the road for this part of the lawsuit, but the cheat seller is not quick to concede. It recently filed an appeal at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, hoping for a better outcome.

“Defendants Aimjunkies.com, Phoenix Digital Group LLC, Jeffrey Conway, David Schaefer, Jordan Green and James May hereby appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit,” attorney Philip Mann writes.

In addition to the confirmation of the arbitration order, the defendants also appeal the associated permanent injunction that prevents them from creating and selling similar hacks and cheats in the future.

Battles on Multiple Fronts

AimJunkies has yet to file its opening brief at the Court of Appeal. The deadline to do so is in October, so the matter won’t be resolved anytime soon. Meanwhile, there are other battles to fight as well.

Bungie’s copyright and trademark infringement claims remain pending and the countersuit, where third-party cheat developer James May accuses Bungie of ‘hacking,’ theft, and DMCA violations , also remains outstanding.

These issues are expected to be resolved during a multi-day trial, currently expected to take place later this year.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.