AfterDawn: News

Activision suing video game pirates?

According to a GamePolitics report, Activision has sued at least six US-based video game pirates since 2007 and has won each case so far.

The report says a Washington man paid $100,000 USD to settle his suit, after he was accused of "reproducing and distributing copies of Call of Duty 3 for the Wii and Xbox 360." Another man, Chris Hyman, settled his case in a similar fashion, but for $25,000 USD. He was accused of reproducing and distributing copies of CoD3 for the Wii and Tony Hawk's Project 8 for the Xbox 360.



The other cases worked the same, with George Laflin settling for $100,000, Kenneth Madden paying the same amount and finally Maryanne Leach settling for $1000 USD. The final case, against James Strickland is still ongoing.

Making the cases more confusing however, is that GamePolitics has updated their original article with a comment from an Activision lawyer. "While we don’t comment on litigation involving clients, we can advise you that we have never filed any litigation against a file-sharer on behalf of Activision." The amount the defendants settled for is surprisingly high as well.

We will keep you updated.

Update-
Edited at request of one of the men named in this article, we apologize for any incomplete or incorrect statements.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 22 Sep 2008 13:57

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• 15 comments

• windsong

  Its times like these that Im glad I live in Canada.
  
  I mean, $hit..100,000 dollars?! This is going to get very violent in the coming years.

  22.9.2008 14:01 #1

• ZippyDSM

  Can someone show me a crime here?
  Whats the profit motive despite Acti's fear tactics...

  22.9.2008 15:18 #2

• tatsh

  Well, the difference here (from RIAA suits) is it is not P2P users. It is SELLERS, people who probably download their copy off P2P and make copies and sell them at a price comparable to the retail price. I think everyone looks at these people with less respect than those who simply download and may share with a friend occasionally at no cost (or cost of the media). Commercially P2P'ing is seriously frowned upon, even by me.
  
  At the same time, I cannot support this kind of action from Activision because their tactic is clearly to rake as much as possible instead of making good games. What has Activision done lately? Oh yeah, don't remind me. They acquired all the big series, such as Guitar Hero, they got Call of Duty early, and they have the Tony Hawk's games series. They are obviously milking the crap out of these, and now they are seeking even more money instead of making original material. Kind of ridiculous IMO.
  
  And what's to say, those pirates were going to buy games anyway, or their customers (if the opportunity to buy them cheap and pirated had not arrived)?

  22.9.2008 17:33 #3

• ZippyDSM

  tatsh
  Dose not say if they sold anything tho, that is what worries me.

  22.9.2008 23:04 #4

• pirkster

  Originally posted by ZippyDSM: tatsh
  Dose not say if they sold anything tho, that is what worries me.What's to worry about if you've done nothing wrong? Obviously, the above offenders have. According to the article, it's illegal reproduction and distribution of Activision's games.

  23.9.2008 10:22 #5

• ZippyDSM

  Quote:Originally posted by ZippyDSM: tatsh
  Dose not say if they sold anything tho, that is what worries me.What's to worry about if you've done nothing wrong? Obviously, the above offenders have. According to the article, it's illegal reproduction and distribution of Activision's games.The trouble they have done nothing wrong, CP infringement is not criminal offense... only the direct sale is....

  23.9.2008 11:25 #6

• ZippyDSM

  http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/09/23/d...i-piracy-treaty
  
  
  Uhg oh yes a multi national secret forum on how government will rap the consumer on the whims of the CP owner...
  
  There is a reason we want to maintain a solid gray area in CP rights.... without it the consumer is not protected from bad media...

  23.9.2008 11:58 #7

• susieqbbb

  Lame.
  
  Activision's games have been going down the toilet for years.
  
  The only reason they are sue-ing these morons is to make money for the lack of sales of there garbage.
  
  And what is even funnier is why in the heck would anyone pirate cod 3 when it has been out now for over a year and is now $20.00 at most gamestop's and why would anyone pirate tony hawks games they suck as well you play for hours and then are bored again 10 minutes later.
  
  This is stupid.
  
  The only tony hawk game i ever purchased was 2 after that i felt he was getting money hungry.
  
  Cod 3 yes i own that as well for my wii and i hate to say it but the controls suck and the game is to short.
  
  So activision can take there lawsuits and well you can fill in the rest

  23.9.2008 12:18 #8

• nitrolagy

  I dunno but im pretty sure activision makes tons of money... why charge so little for so many copies... Why bother is the point!
  
  Anyway I believe if you pay for the internet you have the right to download and burn games... Distributing them however is wrong keep your knowledge to yourself...
  
  Suits them right =X

  23.9.2008 13:43 #9

• yellowjac

  All this information is wrong. :)

  23.9.2008 20:19 #10

• varnull

  Lets see your proof.. links please

  23.9.2008 20:38 #11

• fgamer

  I don't condone this type of behaviour but seriously most of the people that these companies sue have families and are strugling to make it month-to-month. These times are extremely hard for people, and I don't think sueing them will be the answer to piracy. It's lose-lose for the developer or publisher due to the bad press and sueing of your customer base really. I know it doesn't justify piracy, but seriously the CONSOLE piracy that goes on here in the U.S. isn't as serious of a problem as some try to make it out to be. But at least they're not sueing in mass numbers like what the RIAA/MPAA do. I don't think the gaming industry wants a big gamer revolt against them because that could be devistating to the whole gaming industry so I think if they do persue people it's gonna be on a "big fish" type of basis. So if you're like me and only download ever so often but NOT redistribute to make money I think you're OK.

  24.9.2008 13:50 #12

• locobrown

  If I can't afford to buy a game, very rarely I do this, I'll wait 6 months then go over to gamestop and purchase the game.
  
  One thing is backing up your originals, even though you have the right to do so but at the same time the FairUse Act contradicts itself so its illegal to do it anyway. Pirate games and attempt to redistribute? Let me say, What a retard! I backup my games because I don't want my 10 year old brother and his friends when they come over to the house on the weekends ruin my original games. They all had it coming.

  25.9.2008 20:35 #13

• Sontiago

  Let's talk about REAL criminals....
  
  As Washington lawmakers debate as massive, $700 billion, bailout for Wall Street firms that invested in mortgages, CEOs have come under new scrutiny for their multi-million-dollar salaries, even when their companies have suffered.
  
  The bailout plan is likely to have limits on the so-called "Golden Parachutes" for executives forced to leave.
  
  ABC News, in collaboration with James F. Reda and Associates, complied a list of some of the companies in the headlines today and looked at just how much money some of these CEOs are taking home.
  
  CEO Cash Salary Stock, Other Pay Total Pay
  Lehman Brothers
  2007 Richard Fuld $5,000,000 $66,770,000 $71,770,000
  2006 Richard Fuld $7,000,000 $55,323,679 $62,323,679
  2005 Richard Fuld $14,500,000 $89,500,000 $104,000,000
  2004 Richard Fuld $11,000,000 $24,300,000 $35,300,000
  
  Morgan Stanley
  2007 John Mack $800,000 $16,431,500 $17,231,500
  2006 John Mack $800,000 $6,321,000 $7,121,000
  2005 John Mack $337,534 $30,000,000 $30,337,534
  
  Goldman Sachs
  2007 Lloyd Blankfein $27,600,000 $15,500,000 $43,100,000
  2006 Lloyd Blankfein $27,800,000 $15,700,000 $43,500,000
  2006 Henry Paulson $129,087,000 $34,900,000 $163,987,000
  2005 Henry Paulson $600,000 $3,363,422 $3,963,422
  2004 Henry Paulson $600,000 $11,660,000 $12,260,000
  
  Bear Stearns
  2006 James Cayne $17,300,000 $14,800,000 $32,100,000
  2005 James Cayne $12,900,000 $10,300,000 $23,200,000
  2004 James Cayne $10,200,000 $9,500,000 $19,700,000
  
  Merrill Lynch
  2007 John Thain $15,800,000 $0 $15,800,000
  2007 E. Stanley O'Neal $584,000 $161,000,000 $161,584,000
  2006 E. Stanley O'Neal $19,200,000 $45,116,327 $64,316,327
  2005 E. Stanley O'Neal $14,800,000 $3,120,000 $17,920,000
  2004 E. Stanley O'Neal $700,000 $16,766,448 $17,466,448
  
  Washington Mutual
  2007 Kerry K. Killinger $1,000,000 $3,468,625 $4,468,625
  2006 Kerry K. Killinger $5,100,000 $17,153,715 $22,253,715
  2005 Kerry K. Killinger $4,600,000 $8,876,608 $13,476,608
  2004 Kerry K. Killinger $2,900,000 $12,335,416 $15,235,416
  
  AIG
  2007 Martin J. Sullivan $10,200,000 $5,647,439 $15,847,439
  2006 Martin J. Sullivan $16,900,000 $5,838,656 $22,738,656
  2005 Martin J. Sullivan $7,750,000 $159,000 $7,909,000
  2004 M.R. "Hank" Greenberg $1,400,000 $12,002,880 $13,402,880
  
  Fannie Mae
  2007 Daniel Mudd $3,200,000 $5,200,000 $8,400,000
  2006 Daniel Mudd $4,400,000 $2,290,000 $6,690,000
  
  Freddie Mac
  2007 Richard Syron $5,590,000 $0 $5,590,000
  2006 Richard Syron $5,150,000 $0 $5,150,000
  
  
  Source: ABC News

  27.9.2008 04:53 #14

• ZippyDSM

  Sontiago
  its simple without focused oversight you have to limit what CEOs make on the front end limit it to no more than 100X what the lowest employee makes that includes bonus and stock options. Pensions can be as great as 300X if they don't wreck the company, 30% or more loss in stock price under their term as executive.

  27.9.2008 05:31 #15