Call of Duty cheat tool vendor ordered to pay more than 2.2 billion yen in damages
German software makers have been ordered to pay $14,465,600 in damages for allegedly making profits by selling cheat tools for the Call of Duty (CoD) shooting game series.
Case No. CV 22-51-MWF (JCx)
(PDF file)
Activision Wins $14.5m Judgment After EngineOwning Cheat Makers Bailed Out * TorrentFreak
https://torrentfreak.com/activision-wins-14-5m-judgment-after-engineowning-cheat-makers-bailed-out-240529/
Activision wins $14.4M judgment against Call of Duty cheat vendor | VentureBeat
https://venturebeat.com/games/activision-wins-14-4m-judgment-against-call-of-duty-cheat-vendor/
Activision awarded $14.5 million in a Call of Duty cheating lawsuit - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/29/24166932/activision-call-of-duty-cheat-creator-lawsuit-engineowning
In January 2022, Activision Blizzard, the publisher of CoD, sued German software maker EngineOwning and several related individuals and organizations for selling cheat tools for CoD. Activision Blizzard claims that EngineOwning's actions violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
EngineOwning protested, arguing that this was 'corporate bullying by a giant corporation,' and asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed through a lawyer they hired in the United States, but within a month, two of the defendants broke up and settled with Activision Blizzard. According to court records, one of them agreed to pay $2 million (about 3.15 million yen) and the other agreed to pay about half that amount. After that, Activision Blizzard continued to sue the remaining members.
Activision Blizzard, armed with evidence that appeared to be internal EngineOwning communications, alleged that the defendants discussed how to illegally launder money while engaging in tax fraud, exchanged detailed instructions on a daily basis, and alleged that the defendants were living lavishly abroad, spending weeks in the presidential suite of a Zurich hotel, and were struggling to decide whether to pay their lawyers or buy cocaine.
According to news outlet TorrentFreak, as the lawsuit grew to more than 25 defendants, communication between EngineOwning and its US lawyers ground to a halt, with the lawyers gradually backing away from the case.
U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald, who presided over the case, found that Activision Blizzard had lost profits and goodwill at the hands of the defendants and concluded that all of the plaintiffs' claims, including DMCA violations, stood.
Accordingly, the judge ordered EngineOwning to pay statutory damages totaling $14,465,600, which is calculated by multiplying the minimum statutory damages of $200 per violation by the estimated number of downloads of the cheat tool, 72,328.
In addition to the damages, EngineOwning is also being asked to pay $292,912 in attorney's fees for Activision Blizzard, which is a 100% refund of the damages.
After the ruling, EngineOwning continued to operate as usual, selling cheats for games such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, but it is unclear how long they will continue to do so. An injunction has been issued against EngineOwning's website .
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