Epic Games settles their first lawsuit against Fortnite cheater

Epic Games Settles their first lawsuit against Fortnite cheater

Epic Games Settles their first lawsuit against Fortnite cheater

Back in October, Epic Games, the game developers and publisher, started legal battles against several prominent Fortnite cheaters alleging copyright infringement. Now, the first of these legal actions have concluded, with both parties agreeing to a permanent injunction that will cost the cheater $5,000 in damages if broken. 

The defendant, Charles Vraspir, was allegedly banned from Fortnite at least nine times before being taken to court and was suspected of writing code for Fortnite cheats. Epic Games states that the actions of Vraspir enabled others to cheat within Fortnite, ruining the game for other players. 

Before an extensive legal battle officially started, Epic Games revealed that they were able to resolve the case and a settlement has been reached. This arrangement forbids Vraspir from carrying out any copyright infringements in the future and will force him to destroy all cheat codes for Fortnite. The injunction will also prevent the defendant from “creating, writing, developing, advertising, promoting and/or distributing” anything that infringes on Epic’s works in the future. 

Looking at this injunction, which is available to read here (via TorrentFreak), Epic Games does not plan to bankrupt Fortnite cheaters but will instead use them as examples that will deter others from cheating in the future. 

 

Epic Games Settles their first lawsuit against Fortnite cheater

 
Epic Games has also responded to the mother of the 14-year-old Fortnite cheater that they also sued. The company acknowledges that they unknowingly disclosed the personal information of a minor in their initial court filings, but argue that the mother of the child waived those legal protections by listing the child’s full name in her own written response to the courts. 

Epic’s full written response to the child’s mother can be found here (via TorrentFreak). Epic Games plans on only using the child’s initials moving forward in future legal filings. 

 

   Although there is an argument that by submitting the Letter to the Court containing Defendant’s name and address, Defendant’s mother waived this protection […] we plan to include only Defendant’s initials or redact his name entirely in all future filings with the Court, including this letter.

 

Judging from this response, Epic Games still plans on moving forward with this case, as doing otherwise would effectively give minors a free pass when it comes to cheating in video games. It is likely that Epic Games plans to create a similar legal agreement that will prevent this child from cheating in the future.  

 

Mother defends her Fortnite cheating son from Epic Games lawsuit

 

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