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      Judge issues legal permaban, $500K judgment against serial Destiny 2 cheater

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Friday, 8 September, 2023 - 15:57 · 1 minute

    Artist's conception of the judge getting ready to legally blast the defendant into <em>Destiny 2</em>'s version of non-existence.

    Enlarge / Artist's conception of the judge getting ready to legally blast the defendant into Destiny 2 's version of non-existence. (credit: Bungie)

    Just over a year ago, Bungie went to court to try to stop a serial Destiny 2 cheater who had evaded multiple account bans and started publicly threatening Bungie employees. Now, that player has been ordered to pay $500,000 in copyright-based damages and cannot buy, play, or stream Bungie games in the future.

    In a consent judgment that has apparently been agreed to by both ides of the lawsuit (as dug up by TorrentFreak ), district court judge Richard Jones agrees with Bungie's claim that defendant Luca Leone's use of cheat software constitutes "copyright infringement" of Destiny 2 . Specifically, the cheat software's "graphical overlay" and use of "inject[ed] code" creates an "unauthorized derivative work" that violates federal copyright law. The judgment imposes damages of $150,000 for violations on each of two infringed works (seemingly encompassing Destiny 2 and its expansions)

    Leone also created new accounts to get around multiple ban attempts by Bungie and tried to "opt out" of the game's license agreement as a minor in an attempt to do a legal end run around Bungie's multiple account bans. This made each of Leone's subsequent Destiny 2 logins unlicensed violation of Bungie's copyright, according to the judge's order, which tacks on $2,000 in damages for each of "at least 100" such logins.

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      Activision shuts down popular fan servers for legacy Call of Duty games

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 23 May, 2023 - 16:48

    Prerelease video of Modern Warfare 2 's SM2 mod, which has ceased development following an Activision cease-and-desist request.

    Activision has sent cease-and-desist letters to two makers of popular fan clients for legacy Call of Duty titles in recent weeks. The move cuts off access to the many gameplay and quality-of-life improvements brought by these clients and stops what fans say is the only safe way to play these older games without the threat of damaging hacking by opponents.

    The first victim of Activision's recent efforts was SM2, a major Modern Warfare 2 modding project whose development started over two years ago . Since then, the modding group has been working on updating that seminal 2009 release with new weapons, in-game perks, a redesigned UI, new streak and progression systems, and even a recent move to a more modern game engine .

    Those efforts stopped last week, though, before the mod could even release its first version. The SM2 Twitter account reported that "a team member received a Cease & Desist letter on behalf of Activision Publishing in relation to the SM2 project. We are complying with this order and shutting down all operations permanently."

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      Nintendo forces rebranding for adult entertainer “Pokeprincxss”

      Kyle Orland · news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 13 October, 2020 - 15:45 · 1 minute

    Here

    Enlarge / Here's hoping Nintendo doesn't also consider those tattoos an infringement on its intellectual property. (credit: DigitalPrincess/Tiktok )

    Nintendo has issued a cease-and-desist order against a popular social media influencer for using Pokémon branding and imagery in her handle and products. But while the influencer formerly known as "Pokeprincxss" acknowledges her legal mistakes, she also feels she has been targeted by Nintendo for a very specific reason.

    "Nintendo doesn't want people to think I'm in any way, shape or form affiliated with them or that I have a partnership with them, and it all comes down to me being an adult entertainer," the now-renamed "Digitalprincxss" says in a recent YouTube video addressing the issue. "Even though there are other people with 'Poke' in their name and they make money off it... I think it just literally has to do with me being an adult entertainer because they aren't adult entertainers."

    Digitalprincxss boasts 1.9 million followers on Tiktok and significant followings on other public social media accounts . But she also hosts a subscription-based OnlyFans page, which charges $17 a month and promises "access to all my NSFW photos/videos that I post daily" and "uncensored content that I usually tease you with both on Instagram/Twitter."

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      Judge issues restraining order protecting Unreal Engine development on iOS

      Kyle Orland · news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 25 August, 2020 - 14:42

    Epic will be allowed to continue developing Unreal Engine on iOS, even as <em>Fortnite</em> remains blocked on the platform, thanks to a judge

    Enlarge / Epic will be allowed to continue developing Unreal Engine on iOS, even as Fortnite remains blocked on the platform, thanks to a judge's ruling. (credit: Epic )

    A Northern California federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order blocking Apple from going forward with plans to terminate Epic Games' Apple Developer Program account , which would have had a major impact on the development of Unreal Engine on iOS. At the same time, the judge left in place Apple's current blocking of Fortnite from the iOS App Store after Epic tried to insert an alternative payment platform into the mobile game .

    Judge to Apple: Hands off Unreal Engine

    In an eight-page ruling issued Monday night, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers largely accepted Epic's argument that Apple's Xcode and SDK agreement (used for development of Unreal Engine on iOS) is walled off and separate from the Program License Agreement that Epic allegedly breached with its actions regarding Fortnite .

    "Apple’s reliance on its 'historical practice' of removing all 'affiliated' developer accounts in similar situations or on broad language in the operative contract at issue here can be better evaluated with full briefing," Rogers wrote.

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