Blizzard Seeks $8.5M Against Bossland for Hacking
Blizzard is bringing the banhammer and currently seeking a hefty $8.5 million in damages against German-based hack distributor and creator "Bossland GmbH". The ongoing lawsuit, first filed by Blizzard in California on July 1st, 2016 - accuses Bossland of trafficking "circumvention tools" and copyright infringement under the DMCA, as well as unfair competition from the profits of these violations.
Despite Bossland CEO Zwetan Letschew's initial confidence for dismissal of the suit - based on the grounds that the California Court has no jurisdiction over international waters, his motion for dismissal did not pass. Bossland has subsequently stonewalled Blizzard since the failed motion.
The circumvention tools in question are Bossland's Blizzard bots, which allows players to bot games including World of Warcraft, Diablo 3, Heroes of the Storm, and Hearthstone. Popular Overwatch maphack "Watchover Tyrant", a hack which allows users to access the locations and current vitals of other players across the map, is also named in the suit. While "Watchover Tyrant" is now defunct, Bossland's "BuddyBots" are still available despite Blizzard's recent petitioned injunctions, though that may change in the near future.
Leading up to recent events, Blizzard has forced their hand against Bossland's silent front by submitting a motion for default judgement, claiming that Bossland's game hacks have cost them millions in lost revenue and goodwill. Blizzard is seeking $200 per infraction, for each of the 42,818 sales affected within the United States, adding up to a whopping estimated total of $8.5 million. Blizzard however, is not happy with this turn of affairs.
"...It is a “calculated and bad-faith tactic” of the German cheat manufacturer to go for a default judgment. In doing so, the company tries to shield its alleged unlawful conduct from the reach of United States."
In addition to this lawsuit, Bossland is also under heavy legal fire on its homebase, having to contend with over 10 other concurrent lawsuits from Blizzard in Germany alone. Though in one noted and heavily ironic exchange, Bossland has sued Blizzard over copyright infringement for illegally obtaining the source code to their "StormBuddy" bot. Letschew however, does remain calm and collected in regards to Bossland's California-based lawsuit.
“We only filed a motion to dismiss the case, as US courts have no jurisdiction. The motion was declined, we will appeal the decision on the motion to dismiss, once the default judgment is served. Bossland GmbH has no business in the US, we have no offices there, no employees, we do not advertise there, nor use US based companies.”
In a recent post on Bossland's homepage, Letschew mentions that he is still fighting with a motion to dismiss on the California lawsuit. The short posting then concludes on a more ominous note regarding Bossland's pending UK lawsuit, which may prove to be another uphill battle for the business of cheating.
