In Fortnite , Epic is once again taking legal action against an alleged cheater. The 14-year-old appears to be particularly persistent. Epic states that despite the lawsuit, he just keeps going.
This is Epic’s stance on cheaters: In the past, Epic has taken a clear position against cheaters in Fortnite:
- They request the removal of videos promoting hacks and cheats from the internet
- They file lawsuits – usually aiming for an out-of-court settlement. The Fortnite cheaters then sign temporary restraining orders
- And they do not hesitate to bring minors to court
Epic was already in the news in 2018 when they sued a 14-year-old whose mother defended him in a letter. This time, however, it is about another boy.
Epic has sued the boy, among other things, for copyright infringement: When someone creates a cheat, they have to tinker with the code. For that, Epic wants to hold him accountable.
This is how the boy responded to the lawsuit: It concerns the YouTuber CBV. He has discussed the topic “I am being sued by Epic” in several YouTube videos.
At first, he reacted angrily. He said, “Fuck Epic Games,” they wanted to drive his family into bankruptcy.
Later, the 14-year-old stated that he had received “30,000 pages” in the mail from Epic. He thought it was strange that they were suing him, but he has a good lawyer and is not too worried.
In the video, you see him flipping through the files – to terribly distorted music.
Lawyer: He is a minor, you cannot sue him
This is how the boy is defending himself against the lawsuit: As Torrentfreak reports, the boy’s lawyer has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The lawyer wrote to the court, among other things,
- the boy is a minor, and therefore cannot enter into a contract that he could then violate
- the boy lives in Illinois and has no connection to the jurisdiction of North Carolina (where Epic Games is located) – thus, the court is not competent
- in other states, it is completely unreasonable to expect a minor to defend themselves
Epic says: He just keeps going
This is how Epic responds: Epic has now responded to this motion to dismiss and stated that even the lawsuit has not stopped the boy from cheating. Epic wrote:
“In an 87-minute long video, the defendant announced that he is now streaming for the first time since the lawsuit. After that, he live-streamed himself logging into Fortnite and demonstrated the hacks while playing the game.”
The boy’s defense, that he is immune to consequences because he is too young or that the court lacks jurisdiction, would not be convincing. The boy must be aware of the potentially illegal nature of his actions. After all, he has been:
- banned
- subject to multiple copyright strikes
- and sued
Nevertheless, he just keeps going, according to Epic. The boy is not only cheating in Fortnite, but also continues to release videos promoting and supporting cheat software that violates Epic’s copyrights.
In a free-to-play game like Fortnite, where account bans offer little deterrence, cheats are a constant problem:
Note: The title image is a stock photo.
