In a historic US verdict, a jury has found Destiny 2 cheat seller AimJunkies guilty of infringing the game’s copyrights and trademarks.
In a legal battle over the past few years, Bungie has finally proven that Destiny 2 cheat seller AimJunkies and its parent company Phoenix Digital’s cheat software was related to infringing on the game’s copyright and trademarks. This is the first trial in US history where a cheat seller has been found liable for copyright infringement, setting a potential precedent for other cheat software. AimJunkies/Phoenix Digital and third-party developer James May were instructed to pay the Destiny 2 developer $63,210 in damages. That is the revenue the company is thought to have earned selling the cheats.
Journalist Stephen Totilo reported on the verdict in a post on X/Twitter and provided a breakdown of the profits made from the cheat software sales. The jury threw out AimJunkie’s countersuit that Bungie had illegally accessed one of its computers, but founder David Schaefer says they will “fight this” and appeal the verdict. “We are grateful for the diligence, professionalism, and care exercised by the Judge, his staff, and the Jury,” Bungie’s lawyer, James Barker, told Totilo. “We’re committed to our players and will continue to protect them against cheats, including taking this and future cases all the way to trial.”
Last year, AimJunkies was said to pay Bungie more than $4.3 million after Bungie filed a complaint in June 2021, suing AimJunkies and its parent company Phoenix Digital for copyright infringement. The $4.3 million penalty was founded on the software violating the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision. The separate copyright claim was partially dismissed in April 2022 since the Seattle court could not see the correlation of cheat software being on the same level as an unauthorized copy of its work.
May also made a counterclaim, saying Bungie “circumvented technological measures” and claiming it hacked his computer. The jury did not agree and decided against May. Phoenix Digital founder David Schaefer says they will “fight this” and appeal the verdict. This verdict is a great direction for companies because the courts are slowly starting to understand the detrimental use of cheat software in games. Hopefully, there will be fewer cheaters in Destiny 2 for now, but there can be other cheat software out there still.
