Judge drops DMCA claims that Bungie reverse-engineered Destiny 2 cheats
Enlarge / Using Bungie's own licenses against it worked once for the makers of Aimjunkies, but this time a judge ruled that a bit more finesse (i.e. evidence) was required. (credit: Bungie / Ars Technica)
Months after failing to prove that Destiny 2 cheat makers had infringed their copyright, Bungie has surged ahead in the late game, as a quirky counterclaim accusing Bungie of "hacking" the cheat makers' computers has been dismissed.
AimJunkies, a division of Phoenix Digital, makers of cheating tools for many popular games, including Destiny 2 (since removed but archived), had survived the typically effective claim that their cheat software illegally copied aspects of an original game to function. It was a tactic successfully used by the makers of Grand Theft Auto Online, Overwatch, Rainbow Six, Fortnite, and other properties.
Western District of Washington Judge Thomas Zilly had struck down most of those claims in late April, ruling that Bungie had "not pleaded sufficient facts to plausibly allege that [the cheat maker] copied constituent elements of Bungie's work." Zilly also ruled at the time that Bungie's own license agreement for Destiny 2, which forces arbitration for circumvention and other disputes, meant that its claims could not go forward in federal court before first trying arbitration. Zilly did, however, allow Bungie time to restate its case, and it focused on trademark infringement, reverse engineering, and code copying.