This week, Bungie isn’t the only game developer winning against people who make cheats. According to VentureBeat, Activision also won its lawsuit against the companies EngineOwning UG and Garnatz Enterprise Ltd, and 11 people. They will get $14.465 million in damages and about $293,000 for attorney fees.
EngineOwning also has to give Activision its website domain name.
Call of Duty Cheat Maker Ordered to Pay Activision
Activision won another legal battle against a cheat-making company called EngineOwning, which it sued in 2022. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald ordered EngineOwning and others to pay Activision $14.465 million for making and selling cheats for Call of Duty.
They also have to give up their website, stop making and selling cheats, and pay $292,912 in attorney fees to Activision.
You can find the judge’s decision in a PDF file here. The website, engineowning.to, is still running and offers cheats like an “Aimbot” that automatically aims and fires, or lets players see through walls in games like Call of Duty.
Previously, Activision won $3 million in settlements with two people involved with EngineOwning, Ignacio Gayduchenko and Manuel Santiago. However, many others who were sued did not respond to the lawsuit.
The recent ruling named EngineOwning and its founders, Valentin Rick and Leon Risch, among others involved in managing and marketing the cheats, moderating the site, and an authorized reseller named Pascal Classen. Since they didn’t respond, Activision asked the court to decide, leading to the default judgment.
The judge found EngineOwning and its associates guilty of breaking the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. They also intentionally encouraged players to buy and use cheats, even though Call of Duty’s rules forbid it.
Gaming companies are increasingly using the courts to fight cheatmakers. In 2022, Bungie settled with Destiny 2 cheat makers for $13.5 million. Bungie also won $63,000 in another case, marking a rare jury decision in such matters. AimJunkies, the defendant in that case, chose to fight the case rather than ignore or settle it.
EngineOwning’s Cheat Services for Multiple Games
Activision has won a lawsuit against the cheating company EngineOwning.
According to VentureBeat, the court awarded Activision $14.4 million in damages and $292,912 in legal fees. This decision was made by the United States District Court of the Central District of California.
The court also ordered EngineOwning, a Germany-based website, to transfer its domain name to Activision and stop selling cheats.
EngineOwning sells cheats for Call of Duty and other games like Counter-Strike, Battlefield, and Titanfall.
Activision filed the lawsuit in January 2022, claiming that the cheats from EngineOwning caused a lot of damage to its reputation and made it lose a lot of money.