In the popular shooter Fortnite, developer Epic Games continues the lawsuit against a 14-year-old cheater. The boy’s mother protested sharply with an open letter.
What happened? Epic filed a lawsuit in October 2017 against several players who developed or promoted cheats for Fortnite. One of the defendants turned out to be a 14-year-old boy. Epic was not aware of this when they filed the lawsuit.
What did the boy do? The 14-year-old allegedly operated at least two YouTube channels where he presented, promoted, and distributed cheat software for Fortnite. The boy himself was banned more than 12 times. The lawsuit arose after Epic Games wanted to remove a video from YouTube, against which the boy filed a complaint. According to Epic, they had no choice but to file a lawsuit if they wanted to take the video down.
Mother defends 14-year-old Fortnite cheater
How did the mother defend him? The mother of the defendant raised four points in a letter to the court to counter the lawsuit. Essentially, she argues that her son is only 14 and is being made a scapegoat. Epic also did not obtain the mother’s consent for the 14-year-old to play Fortnite at all. Furthermore, she claims that cheating did not cause any damage.
How did the court respond? The court interpreted the mother’s letter as a motion to dismiss. This necessitated a response from Epic.
How does Epic view this? Epic was forced to respond to the mother’s letter. This has now happened (the full text is available via Torrentfreak). In a statement, they contradict the mother. One argument is: “A minor cannot benefit from a contract and then terminate it by saying that he was too young to enter into it.” By continuing to play Fortnite, the boy cannot escape the contract.
Boy fights back against Epic, finds hacking to be “legally okay”
What is the worst that could happen to the boy? Actually, that is unclear. Originally, a claim for damages was filed. 150,000 US dollars were at stake. In other cases, Epic has settled with cheaters out of court. A key component of these agreements was that the cheaters promised never to do it again.
What does Epic want to achieve with the lawsuit? It seems that Epic is not aiming to profit from the lawsuits but to deter and make a statement. The other lawsuits against cheaters went relatively quietly – the mother of the accused did not file a motion to dismiss. Perhaps the mother did her son a disservice by seeking publicity.
However, it seems the son is not necessarily interested in a quiet resolution either. He could have accepted the removal of his videos. Even then, he reportedly appealed in videos. As Epic explains, the 14-year-old argued that his hacking was okay under “Fair Use.” Epic sees it differently.
Another teenager is also making headlines in Fortnite:
