US Court Denies Bungie’s $2.2m Claim Against UK ‘Ring-1’ Cheat Seller * TorrentFreak

In recent years, several video game companies have taken cheaters to court in the United States.

In 2021, American video game companies Bungie and Ubisoft joined forces in a lawsuit against "Ring-1", a developer and distributor of cheat software targeting Destiny 2, Rainbox Six Seige, and other popular titles.

Bungie and Ubisoft identified four defendants who supposedly ran the cheating business. Filed in California federal court, their lawsuit named Andrew Thorpe (aka 'Krypto'), Jonathan Aguedo (aka 'Overpowered'), Wesam Mohammed (aka 'Grizzly'), and Ahmad Mohammed as key players. .

three settlements

Aguedo and the two Mohammeds were located in the United States and finally admitted their wrongdoing. This resulted in settlement settlements totaling $600,000 in damages.

Thorpe, a UK resident, was the only defendant who did not respond to the allegations, despite being duly informed. In the absence of a formal defense, Bungie and Ubisoft petitioned the court to enter a default judgment.

According to the video game companies, Thorpe was a "prominent" member of Ring-1 who, among other things, "run" the group's official website. This claim was corroborated by the testimony of one of the co-defendants.

Bungie and Ubisoft requested $2.2 million in damages, a figure that includes compensation for various claims, including copyright infringement and circumvention device trafficking.

Unrepresented defendants risk having the evidence weigh in favor of the plaintiffs. In this case, however, US District Court Judge Edward Chen took a more balanced approach.

The court denies the judgment by default

After reviewing the arguments and evidence presented by the video game companies, Judge Chen denied their motion for default judgment. This means that the fourth and final defendant will not have to pay any damages.

The key issue at stake is whether the California federal court has personal jurisdiction over the UK resident. Specifically, Bungie and Ubisoft were required to show that he was a key player directing their actions to the United States.

In his order, Judge Chen first considers the defendant's role, based on the evidence provided by the gaming companies. This evidence did not prove that Mr. Thorpe was a prominent member of Ring-1.

"Mr. Thorpe is neither an original developer of the software nor an original participant in the Ring-1 company, but only joined after Ring-1 had already attracted many users," Judge Chen writes.

“Your role at the Ring-1 company appears to be similar to that of a customer service representative. For example, customers have asked him for information related to cheating software, such as its features, operations, and updates."

Jurisdiction

Bungie and Ubisoft argued that the defendant's actions were directed at the US, based on the notion that Ring-1's broader actions can be attributed to it. That goes too far in this case, as the court does not see him as a leader.

Co-defendant Mr. Agueda testified that Mr. Thorpe ran the Ring-1 website. However, Judge Chen believes that the term "execute" is vague and therefore insufficient to deem the defendant an alter ego to the entire Ring-1 group.

Instead, the court decided to assess whether Mr. Thorpe specifically directed his personal actions to the US, which would be sufficient to establish personal jurisdiction. Once again, Judge Chen found the evidence unconvincing.

“First, contrary to what Claimants argue, the fact that the two Claimants are located in the United States does not mean that Mr. Thorpe is targeting the United States,” Judge Chen writes.

Second, Mr. Thorpe may have helped clients, but there is no evidence that any of those clients were based in the United States. More fundamentally, there is nothing to indicate that Mr. Thorpe approached and solicited those clients. Rather, the evidence indicates that customers reached out to him.

insufficient evidence

Judge Chen ultimately decided that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that Mr. Thorpe knowingly directed his activities in the United States. As such, the court does not have personal jurisdiction over the UK resident.

That left no choice but to deny Bungie and Ubisoft's motion for default judgment and the $2.2 million in compensation they requested.

"Without the required minimum contacts, the Court does not have specific personal jurisdiction over Thorpe pursuant to Rule 4(k)(2) and therefore a default judgment is not warranted," the order reads.

In a footnote, Judge Chen writes that the injunctions granted against the other defendants, which prohibit Ring-1 members from engaging in any future infringing conduct, also apply to Mr. Thorpe, but notes that your court has no power to enforce.

It is unknown if Mr. Thorpe is still part of the operation but, despite previous agreements, Ring-1 remains online and accessible to the public to this day.

The ruling in this lawsuit stands in stark contrast to the criminal conviction of Gary Bowser, who was a relatively low-level 'salesman' for the Team-Xecuter 'hacking' group. Last year, a US court sentenced the Canadian to 40 months in prison for that role.

—

A copy of US District Court Judge Edward Chan's order denying the motion for default judgment is available here (pdf)