Court locks in Bungie's $4.4 million win against Destiny 2 cheat maker, refuses request for a new trial

More than a year after Destiny 2 studio Bungie won a $4.4 million award against cheat maker AimJunkies, two US courts have effectively locked in the victory: One ruling affirmed the amount of the award, which AimJunkies had appealed, while another denied the company's request for a new trial.

Bungie's case against AimJunkies was one of several it brought against cheat makers including PerfectAim, GatorCheats, and Ring-1, but it stumbled a bit out of the gate. In May 2022 a judge dismissed part of Bungie's claim related to copyright infringement, a small but surprising win for AimJunkies. It didn't add up to much in the end: The bulk of the remaining claim was sent to arbitration, which resulted in a ruling in favor of Bungie just shy of $4.4 million, most of it related to DMCA violations.

As reported by TorrentFreak, AimJunkies had filed a motion asking that the jury's decision be overturned as a matter of law because Bungie had not actually proven copyright violation—essentially saying the jury had clearly come to the wrong decision—and requesting either a different verdict or a new trial. In a ruling issued on August 30, however, the court rejected the claim, saying "substantial" direct and circumstantial evidence supports the jury's finding.

One interesting point in the appeal and ruling arose from a comparison with the famous Game Genie cheat cartridges. AimJunkies used the 1992 legal battle between Galoob Toys and Nintendo to bolster its claim that its software does not create derivative works and is thus not violating copyright. But the Game Genie was a "dumb" device because it only blocked a single byte of data, which users could then replace with any other data; the AimJunkies software, the court ruled, "was not dumb and functioned as more than a window into Destiny 2's programming."

"Beyond just allowing the end user to edit a value in computer code generated from a valid source without modifying the underlying source, the Cheat Software's computer code is 'injected' into the Destiny 2 code, creating an essentially new and altered copy of the game. Additionally, the Cheat Software added red boxes around certain characters, creating a modified audiovisual display of Destiny 2, ie. a derivative work."

The net result: No new trial, the verdict stands.

The $4.4 million award also stands. AimJunkies claimed in its appeal that the arbitrator had erred by refusing to allow previously entered "material evidence" in support of its claim, but the court rejected the allegation, essentially saying AimJunkie's lawyer dropped the ball.

"The Arbitrator did not entirely dismiss AimJunkies’ attempt or ability to impeach [Bungie principal witness Dr. Edward Kaiser]," the ruling states. "For example, AimJunkies’ counsel could have tried to rephrase its question, question Dr. Kaiser about his transcripts, or read Dr. Kaiser’s transcripts into the record to impeach Dr. Kaiser. 

"AimJunkies’ counsel did not attempt to do so. Instead, counsel abandoned the line of questioning entirely. This in no way amounts to an error, especially not an error that was 'in bad faith or so gross as to amount to affirmative misconduct'."

Taken together, that would appear to put a fork in AimJunkies' case, although it's possible further appeals could be filed. For now, the AimJunkies website continues to operate, although obviously without any Destiny 2 cheats. I've reached out to AimJunkies for comment and will update if I receive a reply.