The parties reached a consent judgment before the case could go to trial.
Destiny 2 studio Bungie has won its lawsuit against defendants Elite Boss Tech, its owner Robert James Duthie Nelson, and other “doe” defendants that are claimed to have been involved with the cheat software developer.
Bungie will be rewarded $13.5 million, which is $2,000 for every time the software was downloaded, which totals 6,765 downloads.
Though Elite Boss Tech originally alleged no derivative works were created, and Bungie’s copyright infringement claims had no foundation, the defendants are now admitting to hundreds of violations.
The motion reads that the defendants’ software “includes a software module that is designed to be used with Destiny 2 that displays a graphical overlay that integrates into and annotates [Bungie’s] copyrighted Destiny 2 audiovisual work, and thereby infringes as an unauthorized derivative work.”
On top of having to pay the $13.5 million, Elite Boss Tech is also prohibited from reverse engineering any Bungie developed or published games, and from creating software that infringes on Bungie’s rights, or the rights of any Bungie subsidiary or affiliate.
The suit against Elite Boss Tech is the third time in the last two years that Bungie has gotten into legal battles against cheat software developers, including claims ofcopyright infringement in one case against AimJunkies, though the claim was dismissed.
Bungie also sued cheat subscription service Ring-1 for copyright infringement alongside Ubisoft last year.
While this result won’t necessarily put as much of a dent in the number of cheaters for Bungie’s games as the company might hope, legal endeavors like these serve as warnings to those who would try and take Elite Boss Tech’s place.
Bungie isn’t alone in taking aim at cheat tech developers; recently. Nintendo specified that it wanted to send a message with the sentencing of Gary Bowser, who was given 40 months in prison for his part in hacking group Team-Xecutor.
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