Fortnite cheaters sued for copyright infringement

Last week, thousands of players were banned from Fortnite for cheating, now Epic Games is continuing their hunt for cheaters and cheat providers by filing a lawsuit against two prolific cheaters.

Epic Games have been around since 1991 making games like Unreal, Gears of War, and most recently, the multiplayer game Fortnite. Their latest multiplayer game has already been played by more than a million players, but unfortunately, some of those won't abide by the rules. This has mostly been an issue in the PvP mode "Fortnite: Battle Royal." It has been made clear that Epic Games can not just talk the talk, but will also walk the walk. When the ban hammer fell last week they also said:

"We are constantly working against both the cheaters themselves and the cheat providers. And it’s ongoing, we’re exploring every measure to ensure these cheaters are removed and stay removed from Fortnite Battle Royale and the Epic ecosystem. We don’t want to give too many clues about what we’re doing, but we are rolling out tools and will continue to do so."

Epic Games have after this statement revealed that "every measure" and "rolling out tools" also includes lawsuits.

According to Torrent Freak, legal documents detail two lawsuits that have been filed with the North Carolina federal court against two prolific cheaters by Epic Games. The alleged cheaters go under the names of  Mr. Broom and Mr. Vraspir and they stand accused of violating the Fortnite’s terms of service and EULA by cheating, charges which involve changing and modifying the code of Fortnite while in the process committing copyright infringement.

Both of these two complaints are fairly similar and boil down to Mr. Broom and Mr. Vraspir cheating, encouraging others to cheat, and ruining the game for legit players. The complaint goes on to add:

"Nobody likes a cheater. And nobody likes playing with cheaters. These axioms are particularly true in this case. Defendant uses cheats in a deliberate attempt to destroy the integrity of, and otherwise wreak havoc in, the Fortnite game. As Defendant intends, this often ruins the game for the other players, and for the many people who watch ‘streamers’,"

The defendants are both connected to AddictedCheats.net, either as administrators or support, where they regularly boast about their accomplishments. Mr. Vraspir has been banned nine times but keeps on making new accounts under false names to continue his cheating ways. He also stands accused of writing the cheats. Mr. Broom has only been banned once but has stated that he has been working on his own cheats in an effort to create  “unwanted chaos and disorder” and said that Fortnite is the biggest priority for the cheat provider.

All in all, "Both defendants face $150,000 in statutory damages for copyright infringement" and with this Epic Games hope to not just remove two drops from the ocean of cheaters but also to flex their muscles and show at what lengths they are willing to go to protect their game.