Tag: Lawsuit

Blizzard Wins $7 Million Judgement Against Bots


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Blizzard has fired another shot across the nose of the bot community with a successful judgement against Ceiling Fan Software. The developer was embroiled in a lawsuit against the creator of Shadow Bot and Pocket Gnome for the past two years, until a judge awarded a judgement of seven million. As a result of the judgement, Ceiling Fan Software is required to cease the sale or distribution of any bot, hack, or cheat software for any of Blizzard’s games. They are not allowed to develop, patch, modify, update, or test said software, nor are they allowed to possess it at all. They may not invest, associate, or assist in the creation or updating of software that violates Blizzard’s ToS either, and this applies to any company that the defendants operate at any point in the future.

Ceiling Fan Software posted a notice of shutdown on their website.

After more than 2 years of legal battles with Blizzard Entertainment to both pursue our right to operate and our customer’s right to play WoW as they choose, we did not prevail in the suit and have been ordered by the United States District Court in California to cease our operations.

The judge ruled in favor of Blizzard under a law which prohibits “unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business practices.”

(Source: Court Ruling)

Activision Blizzard Sued By Shareholders Over Buyout


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I couldn’t resist using that picture, I am sorry. As you may recall, not too long ago Bobby Kotick’s investment group announced that they would be buying most of Activision Blizzard’s stock back from Vivendi to the tune of eight billion dollars. One shareholder, Todd Miller, has filed a lawsuit against the company and parties associated with the deal. Miller is claiming insider trading, noting that the stocks were sold at a 10% discount, saving more than half a billion in sales.

Miller is suing to have the deal overturned in court, and wants Activision to have controls put into place to ensure that further backroom deals do not take place. You can read all about it at Courthouse News at the link below.

(Source: Courthouse News)

Wargaming Sues Chinese Developer Over World of Tanks Ripoff


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There are only two certainties in life: Death, and that if there is a product in existence, China has ripped it off and claimed it as its own. Now you can find a ripoff of just about anything in China, including MMO Fallout as I recently discovered. Litigation against these companies is generally extremely difficult, if not impossible, in part because copyright infringement apparently does not translate into Mandarin. I say this with the full knowledge that any time I talk about China being infamous for ripping off products, that MMO Fallout will probably be hit with a surge of attempts at breaking into the site. Twenty six thousand attempts in April, and still going strong.

World of Tanks developer Wargaming is taking the fight head on by filing a lawsuit against the developer of Project Tank, Chinese companies Changyou and Gamease. So how does a company steal a game based on tanks that existed in reality? By using the exact same historical inaccuracies and stealing the tanks that did not exist as well, according to Wargaming.

“Copying is evidenced by the fact that the designers of Project Tank copied historical inaccuracies found in WOT, each of which does not affect gameplay but which was included in WOT to simplify the tank modelling and rendering process. Copying is further evidenced by the fact that the designers of Project Tank copied tanks from WOT that never existed in real life, and which included features original to WOT.”

The Project Tank closed beta has been shut down with a message calling Wargaming’s litigation “bullying.” Wargaming is seeking damages and an injunction against Changyou.

(Source: Polygon)

John Smedley Deploys Lawyer-Grade Weaponry To Fight Planetside Cheaters


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Sony Online Entertainment has been taking the fight to cheaters in Planetside 2, and the battle has not been an easy one. Whenever the development team comes up with a new way to combat aimbots and other cheats, the people making said cheats simply find a new way to work around the system. So in a post on the Planetside subreddit, John Smedley appeared to clarify a few misconceptions about the policy against cheat users. In addition to the usual discussions of zero tolerance and constant development, Smedley also pointed to Sony’s newest battle tactic: Lawyers.

After having personally viewed some of the major cheat sites I can tell you I’m blown away by how sophisticated some of these operations are. They are making money on this. We’re working on that from another angle too that I’m not going to go into just yet (hint. it involves lawyers) . But we have the resources to fight this fight and we will keep doing it.

Fighting cheat makers in court will be a lengthy and expensive process, but more power to Sony if they are willing to go through with it.

(Source: Reddit)

Class Action Lawsuit Against Blizzard Over Account Security


Blizzard is on the receiving end of a class action lawsuit over the company’s account security. The lawsuit, filed against the Santa-Monica developer, states that Blizzard deceptively and unfairly charged customers for extra security devices (authenticators), pulling in $26 million while failing to provide adequate security for people who were not willing to pay an “undisclosed fee.” The lawsuit cites countless accounts that have been breached due to Blizzard’s inadequate security, and seeks to bar Blizzard from “tacking on undisclosed fees,” and from requiring users to sign up for Battle.net.

 “Most recently, on or about May 19, 2012, reports proliferated that class members’ Battle.net accounts had suffered a security breach (‘hack’) at the hands of unknown parties (‘hackers’), and on or about August 4, 2012, hackers massively breached Battle.net’s security and acquired the private information of all of defendants’ customers in the United States, as well as the remainder of North America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia.”

Judging by how other class actions end up, players who purchased the authenticator can likely look forward to a $.50 credit coming to their Battle.net account somewhere between 2015-2016.

(Source: Courthouse News)

EA Employees Gear Up For Class Action Lawsuit


Electronic Arts has had its fair share of bad news just here at MMO Fallout. Warhammer Online and All Points Bulletin launched and subsequently took a jackhammer to the publisher’s relationship with its investors and partners, and the recent release of The Old Republic was met with major initial sales and just as much controversy over broken content, bannings, and more.

To top things off, Electronic Arts’ employees may be setting up for a class action lawsuit. According to an employee spouse on Gamespot, Electronic Arts currently mandates shifts of 9am to 10pm, seven days a week with occasional Saturdays off. In return, employees are given no overtime or vacation days for this work.

Unlike EAlouse, this isn’t just the ranting of some alleged employee. Gamespot contacted Schubert & Reed, a San Francisco law firm, who confirmed that preparations are in place for a class action suit.

“We are seeking unpaid overtime for a good number of EA employees who weren’t [properly] paid, EA contends they were exempt,” and Schubert added that “we contend otherwise.”‘

No doubt more to come.

(Source: Gather Your Party)

Can We Stop Asking If TERA Will Be Shut Down Now?


Back when I was covering the TERA beta, I received a lot of messages from players who wanted to buy the game, but were afraid to because of the lawsuit between En Masse Entertainment. People were afraid that NCSoft had a chance of winning the lawsuit, and would have the game shut down in North America (and possibly Europe) as a result. Well, according to a press release by EME, the lawsuit has been settled and TERA will not be shutting down. As part of the settlement, En Masse maintains its innocence and has stated that the company will maintain its focus on TERA in the coming future.

“En Masse Entertainment confirms it has settled with NCsoft over the TERA-related lawsuit in the US. In doing so, En Masse Entertainment maintains its innocence and looks forward to refocusing the company’s full attention to TERA, its fans, and its future.”

As for the full details of the settlement, you can probably expect to see those somewhere in the realm of never.

(Source: Press release)

Curt Schilling Sued For $2.4 Million


Citizens Bank is not happy with Curt Schilling, because the company is suing the ex-Red Sox player personally for $2.4 million. Schilling is being sued under allegations that he promised to personally repay the money that had been borrowed from the bank. According to the lawsuit, Curt Schilling had personally guaranteed a $2 million line of credit as well as a $350,000 credit card, both of which 38 Studios and Schilling have refused to pay.

38 Studios is currently under investigation by the State of Rhode Island and the Federal Bureau of Investigation over the $75 million in loans that Rhode Island taxpayers are now on the line for.

“Schilling is liable to the bank in the total amount of $2,394,240.40, plus thereafter accruing interest and late fees, costs and costs of collecting, including, without limitation, attorneys’ fees and expenses.”

Citizens Bank has requested that Schilling’s assets be frozen, claiming that the company would be unlikely to recover any money in bankruptcy court.

Undoubtedly far more into the 38 Studios story will be revealed as ongoing lawsuits and investigations continue.

(Source: WPRI.com)

Stargate Worlds Just Can't Die, Yet Another Lawsuit


Some of you may remember the Ponzi scheme that Stargate Worlds and MMOGuls allegedly turned out to be. I do, and I distinctly apologize to my editor for forgetting that I had duct taped and locked you in the basement, but then again that is what happens when you interrupt my Diablo 3 time to ask me to talk about Stargate Worlds and Gary Whiting, I don’t care how many times you say please. It has been 18 months since I’ve had to talk about Stargate Worlds, and boy does the time fly when your blood isn’t boiling.

First of all, let’s set something straight: Stargate Worlds is never coming back. Last we heard back in 2010, MGM pulled the license and has absolutely no intention on letting it loose again. Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment’s court appointed receive is in the process of dismantling the long-dead development company and selling it off piece by piece.

But it doesn’t end there, and karma has found its mark. Gary Whiting, noted Ponzi Schemer Multi-Level Marketer is on the receiving end of a growing number of lawsuits by investors in the Stargate MMO. Whiting, who owes more than $6.2 million thanks to two other lawsuits, has another on his hands to the tune of $4 million, from 17 plaintiffs under the accusation that Whiting mislead them into investing in the disastrously failed MMO.

According to the plaintiffs, Whiting lied about Stargate Worlds being near finished, stole millions from the company coffers and never repaid loans.

We’ll see how this turns out in court. I won’t, because this is the last I’ll post about Stargate Worlds.

(Source: The Arizona Republic)

Korean Supreme Court Finds Bluehole Innocent, Three Employees Guilty


Back when the internet was powered by Steam and everything cost a nickel NCSoft sued Bluehole Studios, a company made up of ex-Lineage III developers. There has been a bit of confusion with convictions being upheld while others were later appealed and overturned, and I hadn’t noticed that the case has made its way to the South Korean Supreme Court, who yesterday came out with their ruling.

Bluehole Studios has been found innocent of any charges of wrongdoing. However, three employees were convicted of leaking trade secrets and must both pay two billion won in restitution ($1.7 million USD, approximately). The story might be over for now for Bluehole Studios, but the three employees mentioned now face criminal charges for which sentencing will take place at a later date.

In January, NCSoft launched a lawsuit in the United States to keep TERA from releasing, and from the outside looking in this ruling does not bode well for a guilty verdict. While the case in Korea has successfully taken down those responsible for the theft, NCSoft has failed in their other objective: Shutting down TERA.

So those of you on the bench in regard to preordering TERA can probably breath a sigh of relief and grab those credit cards. TERA launches in just a few weeks.

(Source)