3 Count: Bungie Returns

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1: Bungie Wins $16.2m, Destiny 2 Cheat Dev Violated DMCA, RICO, CFAA

First off today, Andy Maxwell at Torrentfreak writes that game developer Bungie has secured another favorable judgement as a US court has found the defendant liable for $16.1 million in damages for copyright infringement and violations of the RICO act.

The case pitted Bunigie against Denmark-based developer Daniel Larsen, who Bungie claims created the popular Wallhax cheat for Bungie games. Though the lawsuit was filed in August 2021, Larsen did not participate in the case, resulting in the court handing down a default judgement against him.

To that end, the court agreed and handed down a strong verdict in favor of Bungie. In addition to violations of the Copyright Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the court also ruled that Larsen had violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act by reinvesting revenue from cheat sales into his business. All totaled, the court ruled that Larsen owes over $16.1 million in damages and attorney fees. This ruling comes mere days after Bungie secured a similar $6.7 million judgement against the Indian firm LaviCheats.

2: Record Label Faces More Copyright Theft Claims

Next up today, Siyabonga Sithole at IOL reports that, in South Africa, record label Open Mic Productions is facing a lawsuit from a group of their former producers who say that the label has failed to pay for a hit song that they wrote.

The lawsuit was filed by Sara and Chilli Yababa, as well as Sdala B and Paige. They claim that the label used a string of songs that they had composed, including the hit song John Vuli Gate, without payment to them.

According to Sdala B and his manager, the label has made a series of empty promises to the four composers, prompting them to file the lawsuit, even as they have cases ongoing against the musicians who released the songs.

3: Scammer Made Thousands Selling ‘Leaked’ Frank Ocean Tracks That Were Fake, AI-Generated

Finally today, Joseph Cox at Vice Motherboard reports that a scammer sold multiple “leaked Frank Ocean” tracks even though the tracks were not from the artist, but rather, were made with an AI.

Fans of the musician have been starved for new music, as he hasn’t released a full album since 2016 and only recently returned to the stage with a controversial set at Coachella in April. This seems to have created a niche for the scammer, who goes by the name Mourningassassin, to generate AI tracks based on the artists’ previous work.

According to an interview with Mourningassassin, he realized that people believed the tracks were by Frank Ocean and, after posting clips of the tracks to Discord, managed to sell them for thousands of dollars apiece, netting him around $13,000 CAD ($9,700 USD). Though others have used AI to generate “new” songs by famous artists, this is the first time it’s been reported a scammer has actively used AI to sell fake tracks.

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