Bungie's Anti-Cheat Lawsuit Isn't Looking Good

Bungie's "Destiny 2" is one of the most popular multiplayer games around and the company even has its sights set on Hollywood, hoping to bring the story to the big screen in the future. Unfortunately, the science-fiction shooter has a problem. "Destiny 2" is full of cheaters, and according to reports, it's one of the most cheated games on the market. Cheats in "Destiny 2" can significantly alter gameplay, giving players wallhacks, aimbots, and invincibility. Furthermore, having these game-breaking cheats makes grabbing high-value loot easier, thus devaluing the goods for players that obtained them legitimately.  In PvP arenas, it's not surprising that the average player gets frustrated when they match up against a cheater.

However, Bungie finally decided enough was enough last year and took legal action against the popular cheat selling site AimJunkies.com. According to court documents, Bungie argued that "[AimJunkies] are infringing Bungie's copyrights and trademarks ... and breaching and inducing other players to breach Bungie's Limited Software License Agreement ("LSLA")." Following the legal motion, AimJunkies removed all of its "Destiny 2" cheats from the site. AimJunkies also discussed a possible settlement with Bungie, according to a TorrentFreak report.

But, AimJunkies didn't send in an official legal response in time, prompting Bungie to file for a default (per TorrentFreak). Requesting a default allowed Bungie to proceed with the copyright infringement case without the defendants present. Unfortunately for Bungie, however, the judge decided to dismiss the case.

On April 27th, US District Court Judge Thomas Zilly ruled on the claims that Aimjunkies was in violation of copyright laws with their cheats. Zilly sided with AimJunkies and dismissed Bungie's claims. Zilly stated, "[Bungie] has not pleaded sufficient facts to plausibly allege that AimJunkies and Phoenix Digital copied constituent elements of Bungie's Work." The judge continued, "Bungie has not pleaded any facts explaining how the cheat software constitutes an unauthorized copy of any of the copyrighted works identified in the complaint." This was undoubtedly a sigh of relief for AimJunkies, but it wasn't out of the woods just yet.

Judge Thomas Zilly also made his ruling on the trademark infringement motion proposed by Bungie. Zilly believed Bungie did not provide adequate evidence for the case to go through. Additionally, the judge gave Bungie details on what needed to be adjusted if it decided to bring the copyright infringement back to court, stating, "Bungie's complaint must contain more than a 'formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action'." If Bungie does refile the copyright case with more detailed evidence, AimJunkies would be summoned yet again to defend itself.