Bungie lawsuit ends with Destiny cheat-seller on the hook for $12M

pcgamer.com:

Bungie has won a lawsuit it brought in 2021 against the Romanian national Mihai Claudiu-Florentin, who it said was behind software called VeteranCheats that players bought in order to cheat in Destiny 2. In February this year Bungie requested around $12 million in damages in a motion for default judgement, a request that the court has now granted.

The court accepted Bungie's claim that Claudiu-Florentin both developed and sold cheat software for Destiny 2, and in doing so caused significant harm to the game by undermining the experiences of legitimate players (thanks, TheGamePost(opens in new tab)). 

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2021. According to court documents, Claudiu-Florentin “developed and sold” cheat software for Destiny 2 that enabled players to cheat in various ways, including aiming more accurately, and seeing through walls.

The overall figure Bungie requested was $12,059,912.98 in damages, $11,696,000 of which represented damages based on DMCA breaches ($2,000 for each of the 5,848 downloads of VeteranCheats Bungie identified via subpoena), plus $146,662.28 for «actual damages» for copyright infringement, and then a cool $217,250.70 for the attorney fees.

And the Court more-or-less bought it lock, stock, and two smoking Conditional Finality barrels. «The Court finds that damages shall be entered in the amount of: (1) $11,696,000 for violations of the DMCA; (2) $146,662.28 for violations of the Copyright Act; and (3) $217,250.70 in attorneys’ fees and in costs. The total award shall be entered in the amount of $12,059,912.98,» reads the judgement(opens in new tab).

The court further entered a permanent injunction against Claudiu-Florentin, which stops him engaging in any kind of conduct that would