The US district court jury in Seattle found Phoenix Digital, the company behind the cheat maker website AimJunkies, guilty of violating the copyrights of gaming studio Bungie after it created cheats for Destiny 2.
Axios's tech and gaming reporter Stephen Totilo wrote on X, formerly Twitter, Friday (May 24) that the gaming studio won its lawsuit against AimJunkies, but Phoenix would only have to pay "five figures in damages," as the lawsuit only applied to the revenue for the cheats.
Totilo added that the jury rejected AimJunkies' claim that Bungie allegedly "went into one of their computers."
Breaking: Bungie has won its lawsuit against Aimjunkies/Phoenix Digital. Just five figures in damages, since only the revenue for the cheats was in play
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) May 24, 2024
Jury sided with Bungie. Rejected Aimjunkies’ counterclaim alleging Bungie illegally went into one of their computers https://t.co/dx3KKsFzYy
The Verge valued the monetary damages at $63,210, while PCMag reported that the studio's legal win was the first of its kind.
Phoenix Digital said it plans to appeal the decision and all other lawsuits filed against it by Bungie.
Bungie's Legal Campaign vs. Cheaters, Harassment
Bungie's top legal adviser, Don McGowan, told Axios that the studio's campaign against cheaters and harassers in court was part of its legal strategy to improve the community around its games.
He additionally noted that the people with the skills and power to remove bad actors have historically not focused on eliminating them from the game, thus impacting the game, its developers, and the gaming business.
The studio's lawsuit against AimJunkies was not the first time it was involved.
In 2021, Bungie filed five lawsuits, three on the same day and one jointly with Ubisoft, against the makers and sellers of programs that let people cheat in Destiny's multiplayer matches.
Then, in 2022, Bungie sued Nicholas "Lord Nazo" Minor, who allegedly impersonated the company to trigger nearly 100 bogus YouTube copyright takedowns against popular fan-run accounts, and Luca "Inkcel" Leone, who the company alleged repeatedly threatened one of its employees, publicly mentioned about burning the studio down, and sold game items in violation of its copyright.
Bungie began its legal campaign against cheaters and those harassing its business in 2020, the year it split from its former publisher Activision and hired McGowan-previously the longtime top lawyer for the Pokemon Company International-as the studio's top legal counsel.
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