Activision goes after individual game pirates - briefly
(hx) 09:42 PM CEST - Sep,19 2008
- Post a comment / read (2) According to a report by
Edge Online, Activision has sued a New York resident for allegedly copying
Call of Duty 3 for the Xbox 360 and other, unnamed games. Activision seeks
$30,000 to $150,000 in damages "for each infringement of each copyrighted
videogame." After looking into the issue,
GamePolitics uncovered six other instances of piracy-related Activision
lawsuits. Settlements in those cases ranged from $1,000 to $100,000, the site
says, adding that five of the six defendants lacked representation.
- Shawn Guse of Federal Way, Washington.
Guse, unrepresented by counsel, agreed to
pay Activision $100,000 (CoD 3 Wii, CoD 3
Xbox 360) to settle the case. Read the
Guse settlement.
- Chris Hyman of Abbeville, South
Carolina. Hyman, also unrepresented, agreed
to pay Activision $25,000 to settle the
case. (CoD3 Wii, Tony Hawk's Project 8, Xbox
360). Read the
Hyman settlement.
- George Laflin of New Jersey. Laflin,
apparently the only defendant who had an
attorney, agreed to pay Activision $100,000
(CoD 3 Xbox 360). Read the
Laflin settlement.
- Maryanne Leach of Northome, Minnesota.
Leach, with no attorney, agreed to pay
Activision $1,000. Read the
Leach settlement.
- Kenneth Madden of York, South Carolina
agreed to pay Activision $100,000 (CoD 3
Wii, Cod 2 The Big Red One PS2, Tony Hawk's
Project 8, Xbox 360). He too was
unrepresented. Read the
Madden settlement.
- James R. Strickland, aka Ryan Strickland
of New York State; case is still active
(CoD3 Xbox 360). Read the
Strickland complaint.
It is unknown whether the copyright
violations occurred in the course of file
sharing, or whether there was some more complex
mechanism afoot. Activision's court filings do
not specify the manner in which their copyrights
were violated, or how they came to learn of the
violations.
Update: The lawsuits may not be related to file sharing. GamePolitics has received a message from one of Activision's attorneys, who says his law firm has "never filed any litigation against a file-sharer on behalf of Activision."
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