Activision Suing Game Pirates

According to a few reports making the rounds this week, it’s not a good day to be a game pirate, especially if it’s Activision who has you in their sights. The reports note that the game publisher has been quietly suing individuals for a while, although the first case to become really well-known has just come to light, which is the case of James R. Strickland of New York.

James has been sued by Activision for distributing Call of Duty 3 for the Xbox 360 on file-sharing sites, and the publisher is demanding between $30,000 – $150,000 per infringement, on top of reimbursement of legal fees. Ouch. It’s not just the RIAA out there who have asinine demands, it seems.

It’s important to note that the cases so far haven’t dealt with downloaders themselves, but rather the people who’ve ripped the game and uploaded it to distribute. However, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the lawsuits shift to the downloaders themselves, as the publishers will want to get the point across somehow.

According to Activision, the alleged infringement was “willful and intentional, in disregard of and indifference to the rights of Plaintiff.” Activision is seeking statutory damages ranging from $30,000 to $150,000 for each infringement of each copyrighted videogame. They are also seeking reimbursement of legal fees.