Blizzard sues Starcraft II hackers

[Marik]

Developer accuses Canadian, Peruvian users of creating, selling map hacks and cheats for multiplayer real-time strategy game.

Blizzard ushered in the month of October by showing Starcraft II cheaters the door, suspending or banning roughly 5,000 players of the real-time strategy game for using hacks to gain an advantage in the game. Days later, the company went after some of the people responsible for the cheat programs.

Blizzard is wasting little time cracking down on Starcraft II hackers.

Blizzard last week filed suit in the Los Angeles US District Court against three programmers, accusing them of creating and selling hacks for Starcraft II in violation of the end-user license agreement, Battle.net terms of use, and copyright law.

According to the suit, "Just days after the release of Starcraft II, Defendants already had developed, marketed, and distributed to the public a variety of hacks and cheats designed to modify (and in fact destroy) the Starcraft II online game experience. In fact, on the very day that Starcraft II was released, representatives of the hacks Web site advised members of the public that 'our staff is already planning new releases for this game.'"

Blizzard is accusing the trio of multiple counts of copyright infringement, and demanding damages and disgorgement of any profits reaped by the distribution and sale of the hacks. The company also accuse the defendants of inducing others to infringe on their copyright, saying, "When users of the Hacks download, install, and use the Hacks, they copy StarCraft II copyrighted content into their computer's RAM in excess of the scope of their limited license, as set forth in the EULA and ToU, and create derivative works of StarCraft II."

"The harm to Blizzard from Defendants' conduct is immediate, massive and irreparable," the suit claims. "By distributing the Hacks to the public, Defendants cause serious harm to the value of StarCraft II. Among other things, Defendants irreparably harm the ability of Blizzard's legitimate customers (i.e. those who purchase and use unmodified games) to enjoy and participate in the competitive online experience. That, in turn, causes users to grow dissatisfied with the game, lose interest in the game, and communicate that dissatisfaction, thereby resulting in lost sales of the game or 'add-on' packs and expansions thereto."

The three defendants named in the suit go by the handles "Permaphrost," "Cranix," and "Linuxawesome," with the former two residing in Canada and the latter in Peru. It's unclear what jurisdiction the court has over the accused, although Starcraft II's end-user license agreement specifically states that disputes would be decided by a court within Los Angeles County. Additionally, among the relief demanded by the developer is a requirement that the defendants pull their programs hosted anywhere within the court's jurisdiction. There are other allged hackers named in the suit--including "Wiggley," "Zynastor," and "Dark Mage," but Blizzard has not included their real identities in the suit.

Source: Gamespot

[Drolz]

were talking about millions of dollars in here...

[LeetPirate]

Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaahahaahahahahahahahahhaah. :rofl:

All their shit justification for making bnet 2.0 ultra lame and their stupid offline activation and the hacks are still rolling out.

I dunno which is funnier, this lawsuit or the thought of them using their handles in court... "The court hereby finds dark mage, santa claus, and the easter bunny guilty as charged." :lmao:

[Marik]

Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaahahaahahahahahahahahhaah. :rofl:

"The court hereby finds dark mage, santa claus, and the easter bunny guilty as charged." :lmao:

the internet will never be the same :lmao: :rofl: :lol:

[myidisbb]

Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaahahaahahahahahahahahhaah. :rofl:

All their shit justification for making bnet 2.0 ultra lame and their stupid offline activation and the hacks are still rolling out.

I dunno which is funnier, this lawsuit or the thought of them using their handles in court... "The court hereby finds dark mage, santa claus, and the easter bunny guilty as charged." :lmao:

have ot agree this is a stuipd lawsuit and a waste of court time. but since blizzard makes a killing with the over price wow they have money to burn. a tos that says LA courts is only for usa customers. if you person buys sc2 in another land then the tos should be in that lands area. courts should fine blizzard for bullshit

btw mods and hacks ei trainers are there when they make the game so they can fully test the game for bugs. so they need to sue themselves