Blizzard Sues Overwatch “Cheat” Maker For Copyright Infringement - Polidicks

[quote]Over the years video game developer Blizzard Entertainment has published many popular game titles. Most recently the company released the new first-person shooter “Overwatch,” which became an instant bestseller. The game received rave reviews and generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue during its first weeks on sale. While most Overwatch players stick to the rules, there’s also a small group that tries to game the system. By using cheats such as the Watchover Tyrant, they play with an advantage over regular users. Blizzard is not happy with the Overwatch cheat and has filed a lawsuit against the German maker, Bossland GMBH, at a federal court in California. Bossland also sells cheats for various other titles such as World of Warcraft, Diablo 3 and Heroes of the Storm, which are mentioned in the complaint as well. The game developer accuses the cheat maker of various forms of copyright infringement, unfair competition, and violating the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision.[/quote] [url=https://torrentfreak.com/blizzard-sues-overwatch-cheat-maker-for-copyright-infringement-160704/]Torrent Freak[/url]

One less scum-sucking nest of bad sportsmanship down, many to go, hopefully.

I hope Blizzard reignites the fight against hackers. Valve is so fucking passive when it comes to hackers in their games.

Although I agree with the lawsuit, I hope Blizzard doesn't win. [QUOTE]The game developer accuses the cheat maker of various forms of copyright infringement, unfair competition, and [b]violating the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision.[/b][/QUOTE] I feel this would set a bad precedent for dealing with anything relating to circumventing DRM, such as modding/user-made content.

[QUOTE=racerfan;50647069]Although I agree with the lawsuit, I hope Blizzard doesn't win. I feel this would set a bad precedent for dealing with anything relating to circumventing DRM, such as modding/user-made content.[/QUOTE] We need new legislation that specifically targets hackers.

anti-circumvention is probably the biggest threat to security and freedoms on the internet. Companies are allowed to bypass rights laws just by adding a paper thin DRM layer so that anyone who for example, legally rips a DVD they own, suddenly is in hot water for "breaking the drm". Similarly, it makes it harder to test the security on your products, because even if theres a paper thin drm layer anyone with real criminal intent could get through in a minute, you could be on the hook for otherwise legal activities.

Not the first time Blizzard has sued (and won) against a company that produces hacking software. Way back they sued Glider or whatever that WoW botting program was and won. Cut it off at the source and there was a massive drop in the amount of botters.

[QUOTE=Mattk50;50647106]anti-circumvention is probably the biggest threat to security and freedoms on the internet. Companies are allowed to bypass rights laws just by adding a paper thin DRM layer so that anyone who for example, legally rips a DVD they own, suddenly is in hot water for "breaking the drm". Similarly, it makes it harder to test the security on your products, because even if theres a paper thin drm layer anyone with real criminal intent could get through in a minute, you could be on the hook for otherwise legal activities.[/QUOTE] Tbf there are actually a lot of exceptions to the law and encryption research is a major one. Regarding the other point though, it's a very grey area and it's uncertain whether that falls into fair use. DMCA has tons of issues and it repeatedly shows that it fails to protect small individuals while giving too much power to big players.

DMCA's don't mean shit. This has been proven in court multiple time.

Huge Problem for Blizzard, they cannot use the DMCA (a US Law) on a German Business, another problem is they filed suit in a California, They really can only go after monetary Damages.

[QUOTE=orgornot;50647102]We need new legislation that specifically targets hackers.[/QUOTE] *cheaters Hackers could be good if it's what is required to make the game moddable.

[QUOTE=OmniConsUme;50647236]They really can only go after monetary Damages.[/QUOTE] Which is fine, since the argument is that cheaters cause potential buyers to shy away from purchasing the game.

They actually destroyed a up and coming cheat site when overwatch was in open beta. The site didn't even put out their cheat, they only had a video and their site (with forums). Blizzard took it down within a day. They are definitely going against cheaters and hackers as hard as possible.

[QUOTE=orgornot;50647102]We need new legislation that specifically targets hackers.[/QUOTE] Are you seriously asking for a law that makes it illegal to cheat in games?

[QUOTE=racerfan;50647069]Although I agree with the lawsuit, I hope Blizzard doesn't win. I feel this would set a bad precedent for dealing with anything relating to circumventing DRM, such as modding/user-made content.[/QUOTE] Yes, it would be terrible, digital restrictions management only brings problems.

[QUOTE=DeadKiller987;50647494]Are you seriously asking for a law that makes it illegal to cheat in games?[/QUOTE] Cheaters ruin the game for everyone else. Fuck them. I'm all for it.

[QUOTE=eirexe;50647544]Yes, it would be terrible, digital restrictions management only brings problems.[/QUOTE] Can they even set precedent, this is filed in a california court, and the defendant is a German based company, I don't think they can use the DMCA for this.

[QUOTE=joshuadim;50647547]Cheaters ruin the game for everyone else. Fuck them. I'm all for it.[/QUOTE] You have a very weird idea of what legislation is meant to be for.

[QUOTE=loopoo;50647114]Not the first time Blizzard has sued (and won) against a company that produces hacking software. Way back they sued Glider or whatever that WoW botting program was and won. Cut it off at the source and there was a massive drop in the amount of botters.[/QUOTE] For the Glider Case, Blizzard lost that in court. They did win in court afterwords for suing them on copyright infringement, by using the word 'WoW' in it.

In all honesty it doesn't matter how scummy it is, writing software to cheat is a form of speech and trying to stop it should be left out of the judicial system entirely. It should be up to the corporation that owns the game to stop it by banning users that hack/cheat from the service since regulating what kind of software you can and can't write is effectively regulating free speech.

So writing malicious code to inject into people's private email's and accounts should be okay, seeing as it'd be the companies fault for not taking enough precaution, and no matter how much damage is done to that person it's all in the name of free speech?

[QUOTE=crazzyman228;50648213]So writing malicious code to inject into people's private email's and accounts should be okay, seeing as it'd be the companies fault for not taking enough precaution, and no matter how much damage is done to that person it's all in the name of free speech?[/QUOTE] Completely different thing. Cheating doesn't harm someone physically or financially and If someone uses software as a /tool/ to commit a crime then you should prosecute them for the crime instead of trying to lay out a broken blanket ban on something that is an idea. I hope i got the gist of what I'm saying across 'cause I'm crashing hard from caffeine and I don't have the mental capacity to write out a detailed explanation.

Criminalizing people that cheat at a relatively meaningless game sounds incredibly dangerous (and ultimately fucking hilarious to suggest because there are only minorly emotional consequences) What will be defined as cheating? If I have 4 people in a private lobby with third party software who consent, will we be criminals? If I'm 9 and I install an aimbot, will I be sent to a juvenile detention center? The most that should ever happen to a cheater is that his pc is IP Banned and/or account banned from playing that game.

If there's a precedent to be made, as long as this cannot be blanketed over people who attempt to datamine, or rip models from the game and use them in an uploaded animation then I'm okay with this.

Let's break this down, both are scummy things to do. "cheating" is not a victim less crime, seeing as sales can be massively affected if it's really that bad, and who's really at fault here? A company that invests millions into a game they run for a better anti cheat system or someone who has to go back to their one gig setup every few days and change a few things. I'm not sure on the sales with Rust around Legacy, but me and quite a few people stayed well away from it due to rampant hackers and didn't bother with it, until they were dealt with to a good extent.

[QUOTE=joshuadim;50647547]Cheaters ruin the game for everyone else. Fuck them. I'm all for it.[/QUOTE] Blizzard's in America, this particular cheater's in Germany. Whose jurisdiction is it? What provisions would you put in to ensure that this doesn't prevent honest Joes from replacing the player model with Mr. Peanut for funnies? Or ensure that it prevents corporations and/or government types to abuse the law for profit at the common man's expense? And most importantly, how do you expect to do any of this with a generation of lawmakers that still doesn't quite understand what the hell an Internet is?

[QUOTE=crazzyman228;50648319]Let's break this down, both are scummy things to do. "cheating" is not a victim less crime, seeing as sales can be massively affected if it's really that bad, and who's really at fault here? A company that invests millions into a game they run for a better anti cheat system or someone who has to go back to their one gig setup every few days and change a few things. I'm not sure on the sales with Rust around Legacy, but me and quite a few people stayed well away from it due to rampant hackers and didn't bother with it, until they were dealt with to a good extent.[/QUOTE] That's their fault for not having a good anticheat system, plus how the fuck would you even catch these people? Do you expect that the government will create a division to track hackers that cheat in a TF2 lobby? What will you do with people behind 7 proxies?

If the website is selling the hacks for real money, could they claim that the hack developers are making money off their IP without permission?

Writing cheats is an excellent way to learn how to detour, hook into process space, and generally just parse arbitrary memory. All things that have very valid uses and can lead to highly paying jobs. And while I hate the use of cheats in multiplayer games, where they lower the enjoyment and rewards for all who are involved in those games, trying to forbid people from creating them is going to be a horrible mistake. I feel that such a precedent could very easily be abused against other software touching upon games - like mods, community patches, in-game modules for VoIP applications and overlays, e-sport tracking software. The list goes on.

[QUOTE=lavacano;50648372]Blizzard's in America, this particular cheater's in Germany. Whose jurisdiction is it? What provisions would you put in to ensure that this doesn't prevent honest Joes from replacing the player model with Mr. Peanut for funnies? Or ensure that it prevents corporations and/or government types to abuse the law for profit at the common man's expense? And most importantly, how do you expect to do any of this with a generation of lawmakers that still doesn't quite understand what the hell an Internet is?[/QUOTE] Here' what I can understand, the Cheater is in Germany, so they cannot legally to sue them for breaking a US Law (DMCA). The Suit was filed in California, Not in Germany, so only monetary damages can happen. [editline]4th July 2016[/editline] Has people in here (and Blizzard) forgotten that the DMCA is a US Law?! He cannot be successfully sued If he broke a law that's not even in his own country,