Hacking is no stranger to the world of video games and those who get caught usually receive no more than a life long ban from whatever game or service they hacked. Blizzard have gone even further and are filing a lawsuit against Starcraft 2 hackers who created and sold cheats.
The lawsuit was filed on April 19th and a copy of the suit read that Blizzard regard these hacks as “not only disrupt or impair the online experience for purchasers of the computer game, but, as set forth more fully herein, cause serious and irreparable harm to Blizzard and its products.”
A cheat called “ValiantChaos MapHack” was sold for around $58 and allowed players to see hidden enemy units, see what enemy players are building, allows the player to be undetectable, and for certain tasks to be automatically handled.
So far the hackers haven’t been named because Blizzard doesn’t actually know who they are. Blizzard argue that the hackers agreed to their EULA and have infringed the copyright.
“Defendants are well aware that they do not have any license, right, or authority to engage in any of the foregoing infringing activities,” the lawsuit says. “It is well-known to the public, and Defendants certainly know, that Blizzard owns the copyright in StarCraft II, and never has authorized Defendants to develop and/or distribute Hacks or other software that modifies StarCraft II or its online components.”
Blizzard wants an injunction that will stop the hackers from distributing the cheats and wants compensation for the damage the hackers have caused (150,000 “for each copyright infringed”), plus Blizzard wants the hackers to pay their legal fees.
In 2010, Blizzard pursued legal action against hackers for copyright infringement which apparently didn;t get the message across…
Source: GameSpot
