Blizzard is Seeking $8.5 Million in Damages From Cheat Maker

[Steven Bogos]

Blizzard is Seeking $8.5 Million in Damages From Cheat Maker

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Blizzard wants popular cheat maker Bossland to pay up to $200 per infringement.

Blizzard has taken its "War on Cheats" to the highest level today, filing a suit against popular World of Warcraft and Overwatch cheat maker to the tune of $8.5 million dollars. The software giant argues that Bossland violated the DMCA by selling its "circumvention" tools and it demands to be compensated in return. It's asking for $200 per infringement, adding up to 42,818 total cheats sold.

The German-based Bossland is behind several popular cheats including World of Warcraft's, Honorbuddy and Demonbuddy, and the currently unavailable Watchover Tyrant for Overwatch. Blizzard has been fighting the company on its home turf for several years already, and last year it filed a suit at a federal court in California. Bossland initially tried to have the suit dismissed, but after failing to respond by a deadline, Blizzard submitted a motion for something called "default judgment".

"In this case, Blizzard is only seeking the minimum statutory damages of $200 per infringement, for a total of $8,563,600.00. While Blizzard would surely be entitled to seek a larger amount, Blizzard seeks only minimum statutory damages," said a representative from Blizzard in a statement [https://torrentfreak.com/images/blizzdefaulymotion.pdf].

"Blizzard does not seek such damages as a "punitive" measure against Bossland or to obtain an unjustified windfall," it added.

Blizzard is claiming that Bossland's revenue from the cheats may have been even higher than the damages they are asking for, and the $8.5 million is a conservative sum.

Source: Torrent Freak [https://torrentfreak.com/blizzard-wants-8-5-milion-copyright-damages-from-cheat-maker-170314/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter]

Permalink

 

[Eric the Orange]

As much as I hate any and all cheaters in multiplayer games, I do not know if this is actually actionable the way the law is set up now.

Blizzard can ban cheaters all day but I don't think their is any law against making cheats for video games. Blizzard sites the DMCA but all bossland has to do is say they never bought the games and thus signed no DMCA.

 

[Paragon Fury]

As much as I hate any and all cheaters in multiplayer games, I do not know if this is actually actionable the way the law is set up now.

Blizzard can ban cheaters all day but I don't think their is any law against making cheats for video games. Blizzard sites the DMCA but all bossland has to do is say they never bought the games and thus signed no DMCA.

In many states and countries, assisting in breaking the law or contract makes you guilty of a crime as well, or equally guilty as an accomplice to the act.

This is especially true if it can be illustrated/proven that your services/goods were designed specifically with the intent of breaking the law/contract in mind.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

I would say serves them right.
One thing is cheating and making hack tools. Another thing is selling them. That's a thing that I find disgusting. Not only are you hacking/cheating in a product but you're also making money out of it.

 

[Cether]

As much as I hate any and all cheaters in multiplayer games, I do not know if this is actually actionable the way the law is set up now.

Blizzard can ban cheaters all day but I don't think their is any law against making cheats for video games. Blizzard sites the DMCA but all bossland has to do is say they never bought the games and thus signed no DMCA.

I think you're confusing DMCA and the EULA. The DMCA is the Digital Media Copyright Act, part of the law. You do not have to agree to it, or have ever purchased one of the products. Blizzard is saying the maker of the cheats violated their copyright.

EULA is End User License Agreement. It's essentially a terms of service you sign when downloading games. Despite what companies want you to believe, the EULA has no root in law and is essentially a bit of fluff that means nearly nothing. It's certainly *not* a contract.

 

[Saltyk]

So as far as I can tell, Demonbuddy and honorbuddy are bot programs. They apparently allow people to do everything from quest to level up. And that certainly is a shitty thing for anyone to take advantage of.

I'm fine with people using things to check DPS or aide with timing their CDs but bots are straight cheating.

 

[hentropy]

"Hey guys, I know we have a lot of money, but I really want enough to buy Star Wars from Disney."

"We'll come up with a list of ideas by the end of the day..."

 

[fix-the-spade]

As much as I hate any and all cheaters in multiplayer games, I do not know if this is actually actionable the way the law is set up now.

Blizzard can ban cheaters all day but I don't think their is any law against making cheats for video games. Blizzard sites the DMCA but all bossland has to do is say they never bought the games and thus signed no DMCA.

The DMCA doesn't work like that. It's US copyright law, if you're doing business in the US it applies to you, end of. These guys are selling plug ins and they're using Blizzard's software to make them, so from that perspective it's a slam dunk. The real problem is that being based in Germany they are hard for Blizzard to reach once they get a judgement.

I'm sure this isn't the end Blizzard's plan even when they win.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

So on one hand, online cheaters obviously suck ass. No argument.

But on the other, their games are insufferably grindy. Except maybe Overwatch I suppose, but even then...

 

[The Enquirer]

Given how big Blizzard is, I've actually got a good feeling about this. Cheating in an online game where you may actively ruin the experience for others around you is one thing, selling those cheats and making a profit off of them is another. It's despicable. The only challenge they'll face is the company being in Germany.

 

[faeshadow]

Rule 1 of modding: Don't try to sell the mods, you dumbass. At least then, when you're screwing people trying to play the game the right way, you're not actually making money off of screwing people over.

Sympathy level: 0

 

[InflatableHippo]

Good job Blizzard. Sue the cheat creators for allowing players to help players bypass the grindwall and not be psychologically temped to shell out money for RNG lootboxes. Really showing the intent of the company there bucko.

 

[Eric the Orange]

As much as I hate any and all cheaters in multiplayer games, I do not know if this is actually actionable the way the law is set up now.

Blizzard can ban cheaters all day but I don't think their is any law against making cheats for video games. Blizzard sites the DMCA but all bossland has to do is say they never bought the games and thus signed no DMCA.

I think you're confusing DMCA and the EULA. The DMCA is the Digital Media Copyright Act, part of the law. You do not have to agree to it, or have ever purchased one of the products. Blizzard is saying the maker of the cheats violated their copyright.

EULA is End User License Agreement. It's essentially a terms of service you sign when downloading games. Despite what companies want you to believe, the EULA has no root in law and is essentially a bit of fluff that means nearly nothing. It's certainly *not* a contract.

er, yes, you are correct I was, my mistake.

 

[faeshadow]

Good job Blizzard. Sue the cheat creators for allowing players to help players bypass the grindwall and not be psychologically temped to shell out money for RNG lootboxes. Really showing the intent of the company there bucko.

Yeah, it's this thing called "putting everyone on an equal footing" as opposed to "letting people who can afford it get an unfair advantage over people who can't". Shocking, isn't it?

 

[direkiller]

It's certainly *not* a contract.

Technically it is, it's called a contract of adhesion.
Which has highly tend to have restrictive rules on what you can and can't sign away with it, which most EULA's are much more restrictive then the laws or court ruling let them be, but what is and is not enforceable from EULA depends on where you live.

The only real things that are enforceable everywhere are reason they can terminate/restrict your licence to the game(monthly fees, year long licence, TOS violation).

 

[mad825]

Bossland's actions are not defend-able in any way. There are no grounds to stand on to criticize Blizzard for rightfully suing Bossland.

And Blizzard is not likely going to get far by filing the suit all the way in the U.S. They would at the very least request extradition from the German government for this to actually go anywhere. Seeing as Bossland has no formal contract with Blizzard to begin with, Blizzard can do dick all about it.

 

[Pyrian]

International law is complicated. My suspicion on that aspect is that Blizzard's lawyers know what they're doing even if I don't. They're certainly capable of simply filing the suit in Germany if they wanted, which would make sense if they were actually interested in recovering money - but if they're not... They may be counting on Bossland being unable (or unwilling) to defend against it here. Then, they can get the courts to... I dunno, block their paypal or something?

 

[Laughing Man]

Bossland's actions are not defend-able in any way. There are no grounds to stand on to criticize Blizzard for rightfully suing Bossland.

How so? The assumption is that he must be using parts of Blizzards code to make his cheats. What if he is actually programming the cheats from scratch?

End of the day, we can all get on our high horses about him enabling cheaters in online games, but when I see a cheater in an online game I don't blame them, I don't blame the guy providing the cheat, I blame the developer. THEY have the best and most intimate knowledge of how their game works and where the weaknesses are so it is 100% up to them to fix the game to stop cheats.

 

[Callate]

I find it's a lot easier for me to get annoyed at the idea of making a cheat/bot for a game like Overwatch, where so much of the basis of the thing is the competition between human players, than it is to get up in arms about a cheat/bot for World of Warcraft, where it seems likely the bots are less about getting one "up over" your fellow players and more about not having to grind endlessly to get basic resources. One can certainly argue that it's an odd way of playing the game, "cheating yourself" out of large chunks of the game-play, but I can't entirely hold it against a player if they just want to skip over repetitive segments that they find to be a waste of their time.

In any case, describing an award that will likely put the creator out of business and seize most or all of their remaining liquid assets as "not punitive" is a tad laughable. Whether it's justified or not I'll leave for others to judge (the general consensus here seems to lean "yes"), but just because they're not trying to seize money that doesn't exist doesn't mean it isn't a spanking.