Rockstar Joins Other Publishers In Misusing Copyright Law To Go After Cheat Developers For GTA5

Rockstar Joins Other Publishers In Misusing Copyright Law To Go After Cheat Developers For GTA5

4 years ago
Anonymous $-riAjkQg_1

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200213/10032443915/rockstar-joins-other-publishers-misusing-copyright-law-to-go-after-cheat-developers-gta5.shtml

For some time now, we've noted a troubling trend in the video games industry. That trend would be publishers trying to twist copyright law into a pretzel that allows them sue makers of cheat software for copyright infringement. This novel application of copyright law has been piloted by Blizzard and Epic Games in the past. Both company's theory of the case for copyright infringement revolves around their games being licensed instead of sold, with the EULA being broken by utilizing cheat software. If the EULA is broken and the cheat-maker still makes use of the game, they do so without a license. Therefore, copyright infringement.

This, of course, is not how copyright law is supposed to work. Instead, the point of the law is to prevent unauthorized copying of the product, which is absolutely not the practical result of what these cheat-makers are doing. And, yet, the trend continues, with Rockstar Games winning a summary judgement in the UK against two individuals who developed cheats for Grand Theft Auto 5.