Bungie wins yet another lawsuit against Destiny 2 cheat sellers

Bungie's winning streak against Destiny 2 cheat sellers continues with the news it's now been awarded $6.7m USD in damages following a ruling in its lawsuit against LaviCheats.

Bungie filed its claim against LaviCheats owner Kunal Bansal back in 2021, alongside lawsuits against two other cheat sellers: Elite Tech Boss and VeteranCheats. Elite Boss Tech agreed to settle last July, paying $13.5m in damages, and a court ruled against VeteranCheats earlier this month, ordering it to pay Bungie $12m USD in damages.

That just left the developer's case against LaviCheats and (as spotted by TorrentFreak) a federal court in Washington has now issued a default judgment against the India-based Bansal - as requested in a motion filed by Bungie earlier this year - after he failed to appear in court.

Bungie had accused Bansal of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, of contributory copyright infringement, vicarious copyright infringement, trademark infringement, false designation of origin and unfair competition, violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act, tortious interference with contractual relationship, and unjust enrichment.

The court, having determined it had jurisdiction over Bansal, has now sided with Bungie in all of its claims, aside from those relating to the Consumer Protection Act and unjust enrichment. To that end, it has ordered Bansal to pay a total of $6.7m in damages to Bungie, the bulk of which relates to "wilful" violations of the DMCA, an amount based on 2,790 downloads of Bansal's cheats at $2,000 in statutory damages per download.

Alongside the $5.58m for DMCA damages, the court's final figure includes $300K for violations of the Copyright Act, and $579,270 for violations of the Lanham Act, plus attorneys fees and other costs. However, given Bansal is yet to respond to Bungie's lawsuit, it's uncertain if the developer will be successful in securing its damages.