Cheating in video games has been a practice for decades, and modern games are certainly not an exception. While this usually isn’t a problem when it comes to single-player experiences, online multiplayer games such asPokemon GOhave much bigger consequences.
One of the development groups behindPokemon GOcheating applications is Global++. In order to combat this, Niantic issued a lawsuit against Global++ in 2019 under the grounds of copyright infringement and computer abuse violations.
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While the lawsuit has been ongoing for some time now, both parties agreed to settle the case for $5,000,000, with Global++ admitted to the claims against them. This is due to the biggest piece of evidence against the cheat development team forcopyright violationsbeing stolen protected code fromPokemon GOused in the cheating application.
With the case lasting as long as it did, more defendants began to be added to the case with Global++, including IT Haven, HLP Tech LLC, Ryan Hunt, Matthew Johnson, and Alan Hunder by the time the case was settled. All parties involved agreed that the defendants used Niantic’s code without permission in order to profit. Applications that used this code included PokeGo++, a cheating application forPokemon GO, Potter++, a cheating application forHarry Potter: Wizards Unite, and Ingress++, a cheating application forIngress.
Another large factor of the lawsuit was how the applications gave certain players unfair advantages, overall undermining the games' experiences. This means that players that didn’t use these cheating applications would automatically be put at a disadvantage and could be driven from the games. All together, thecheating applicationsdid nothing but harm Niantic and the player bases of the company’s various games, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit itself was filed in California federal court due to Niantic being aCalifornia-based company. With the case being based there, the defendants did admit to multiple breaches of federal law due to the content of the cheating applications. These violations included the Copyright Act, Computer Fraud, and Abuse Act. Other breaches included the California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act, Californian unfair competition laws, Niantic’s terms of service, and the interference of Niantic’s contractual relationship with its users and customers.
With the settlement of $5,000,000 going to Niantic in damages, the defendants will also be receiving further penalties. These include an injunction that permanently stops them from developing, advertising, and getting any kind of revenue fromcheating applications.
Pokemon GOis available now on Android and iOS.
