In October, Epic took the unusual step of not only banning two Fortnite players from the game for cheating, but bringing them to justice. Since then the publisher and developer have filed charges against at least nine more people, both in the United States and abroad. And it was revealed that one of the defendants was only 14 years old.
On October 10, Epic Games issued two lawsuits, one each against Brandon Broom and Charles Vraspir, both said to be related to the same subscription cheat service. Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, both Broom and Vraspir erred in creating cheats that took advantage of Epic’s intellectual property. Court records show that both lawsuits were filed through US district courts and could result in fines of up to IDR 2 billion, per case.
epic Fortnite Cheaters very seriously take cheats or ongoing copyright infringement from anyone at any age. As previously stated, we take cheaters seriously, and we will pursue all available options to ensure our games are fun, fair and competitive for players.
But the teenager’s mother was not happy. The mother wrote a very emphatic letter to the court claiming that her son was made a scapegoat, according to TorrentFreak.
In the letter above, the defendant’s mother made the following points:
- His son did not modify the game or create software cheats as Epic Games had alleged, and “Epic Games does not have the ability to prove any modifications”.
- He admits that his son is using pre-existing cheats and living their lives, but “many others have and are currently doing this because this letter is being typed”.
- Fornite required parental permission for minors to play, which he never gave.
- Epic Games cannot claim “mass profit loss” because the game is free-to-play. He claims Epic is using his son “as a scapegoat” for not being able to curb cheating.
- His name and child details were released to the public, which because he is a minor is illegal.
- His son makes no money from liveesting these cheats.
The mother asked the District Judge to dismiss the case “because the offense does not equate to the claims of minors by major gaming companies”.
The cheat service is also not free, with players having to pay between 5 and 15 dollars per month if they want to use the cheat.
