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Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite, has filed a lawsuit against a 14-year-old boy who used cheating software for Fortnite Battle Royale and uploaded a video to YouTube showing others how to use it. The boy filed a DMCA counterclaim after Epic Games tried (successfully) to take down his video, and then uploaded a second video doubling down on the cheating (here is a third intact video from the YouTuber explaining the situation, 7m16s). The original video was ultimately removed and resulted in a "strike" against the YouTuber's account. The boy's mother has filed a letter with the Eastern District Court of North Carolina blasting the lawsuit and asking for it to be dismissed. She says that Epic Games failed to bind underage users with the EULA for their free-to-play game and claims that she did not give parental consent for her son to play the game. She also points out that the software in question is easily obtainable online and that her son did not modify the game with his own code:
Epic Games, the game developer of the massively popular Fortnite survival shooter, now finds itself at the center of a heated debate around the ethics of punishing cheaters after filing a lawsuit against a 14-year-old boy. In response, the boy's mother filed a legal note tearing down Epic's lawsuit and calling for it to be thrown out. The ensuing debate has been fierce, with some praising Epic and others decrying the legal measures as excessive and heartless, suggesting this case could become a touchstone for how game developers of highly competitive online titles handle cheaters and licensing agreement violations in the future.
[...] Epic, which has banned cheaters only to see them develop more robust workarounds, has responded by suing both distributors of the software and, now it seems, at least one user of it. Suing an individual user instead of simply banning them is an unorthodox and controversial move because it echoes the misguided actions of the music recording industry in its attempt to crackdown on piracy. That parallel was only further cemented by the note submitted by the 14-year-old's mother in the Eastern District of North Carolina.
[...] "This particular lawsuit arose as a result of the defendant filing a DMCA counterclaim to a takedown notice on a YouTube video that exposed and promoted Fortnite Battle Royale cheats and exploits," Epic told The Verge in a statement. "Under these circumstances, the law requires that we file suit or drop the claim. Epic is not okay with ongoing cheating or copyright infringement from anyone at any age. As stated previously, we take cheating seriously, and we'll pursue all available options to make sure our games are fun, fair, and competitive for players."
Here's some analysis from a copyright attorney (10m53s, starts at 5m45s). He is not impressed with the mom's letter.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 30 2017, @05:58PM (5 children)
Oh come off it, he did more then that.
He posted a video how to use not cheat codes, but cheating applications. Then when it was taken down he contested it. Not only that but he put up another how to video, and bragged about refusing to take them down.
With the counter DMCA EPIC has to either give up, or sue. The kid gave them no choice. Do you expect them to leave the how to cheat videos up? If cheating is widespread in the game, the game will only have cheaters, and EPIC wont make any money. Leaving the video up is just asking to take a hit in user numbers.
I hate people who reflexively take a side.
Frankly I hope that somehow they both get burned. The kid is a royal brat being enabled by his mother, and epic is sleazy as all get out.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 30 2017, @07:26PM
And which part of DMCA trumps the 1st amendment?
Guess we now need a judge's help to find out.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by LoRdTAW on Thursday November 30 2017, @07:50PM (3 children)
After reading your post my only conclusion is you are a naive teen gamer. No other way to explain how you consider "video game" cheating to be as serious as you are making it out to be. In fact I'd say your tone implies that his actions were criminal which is laughably absurd. Turn off your PC or console, go outside and get a fucking job or at least a productive hobby.
Does free speech mean nothing to you?
Boo hoo. Fuck epic. They have no right to censor the speech of others because "muh moneyz". Besides, the cheaters are technical issues THEY need to fix. This is just sweeping the problem under the rug.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday November 30 2017, @08:55PM (2 children)
Fucking jobs may be illegal for underage in some jurisdictions.
Perhaps consider other type of jobs?
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Friday December 01 2017, @01:32AM (1 child)
That's why the hobby fall through case is there.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday December 01 2017, @03:48AM
Still not full proof.
Productive hobbies include the "fucking productive hobbies" as subcategory. If a "fucking job" is forbidden to underage, most of the time "fucking hobbies" are too.
The needed correction "or get a productive hobby that does not involve computer games or fucking".
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford