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Thanks to Anonymous, social upheaval and incompetent web hosting, P2P litigation in the United Kingdom is on the defensive. The most notorious of litigators, ACS:Law and Davenport Lyons, operated for years in the UK, attempting to withdraw hundreds and even thousands of pounds from alleged file-sharers. This method, known as copyright trolling, eventually caught up to ACS:Law, whose operation was shuttered and stomped offline. But the beat goes on...
ACS:Law generally pursued alleged sharers of adult entertainment, while Davenport Lyons was most infamous for their pursuit of users allegedly sharing "Dream Pinball 3D". So much furor over such an insignificant creation.
In any event, such BitTorrent gaming lawsuits are well known in the UK - not so much in the US. In fact, in our years of sifting through the public docket, we can't remember the last time John Does were sued for copyright infringement over a game. But there's always a first.
Yesterday in Seattle District Court, lawyers on behalf of Square Enix Limited, a UK company, filed a copyright complaint against 15 John Does. Here's the back story: according to Enix, several months back they had prereleased the software to game reviewers - much like how the movie studios releases theatrical films on disc during the Academy Awards. You know how almost every one of those movies leaks out? Well, surprise surprise, the same thing happened to Enix.
The game in question is “Deus Ex: Human Revolution”. According to the complaint, the game was stored on Steams’ restricted server. The game is only accessible to those given credentials by Enix – but apparently a rouge IP address was able to log in, and the rest they say, is history.
From the complaint:
"One of the video game reviewers authorized by Plaintiff to receive a Game Preview copy via Steam was a reviewer for the Italian video game review magazine “Giochi per il Mio Computer” (“GMC”). On information and belief, GMC is a publication of Sprea Editori, S.p.A., an Italian-language publisher headquartered in or about Cernusco sul Naviglio, Italy. Prior to being provided access to the Game Preview on Steam, GMC and the reviewer entered a non-disclosure agreement with Plaintiff agreeing not to further reproduce or disclose the Game Preview.
On information and belief, one or more Defendants logged into the restricted Steam account hosting the Game Preview code by entering the username and password associated with the authorized GMC reviewer on or about May 29, 2011 from an IP address that was not associated with Sprea Editori or GMC."
Date: 2011-06-23 |