GTA publisher Take-Two sues ‘lawless enterprise’ over allegedly selling ‘heavily modified’ accounts
‘Grand Theft Auto’ (‘GTA’) publisher Take-Two Interactive has filed a lawsuit against PlayerAuctions for allegedly selling high-level ‘GTA Online’ accounts, items and in-game currency through hacks and cheats.
‘Grand Theft Auto’ (‘GTA’) publisher Take-Two Interactive has filed a lawsuit against PlayerAuctions for allegedly selling “heavily modified” ‘GTA Online’ accounts through hacks and cheats.
The publisher is suing the online marketplace for allegedly harbouring “thousands of listings for unauthorized, infringing ‘GTA V’ content – including heavily modified player accounts, in-game assets, and virtual currency – all gained by using hacking software, cheats, and technical exploits”.
The lawsuit - which was filed in the U.S. Central District Court of California last week - is against PlayerAuctions’ Chinese parent company Paiao Network Technology, and accuses the organisation of running a “lawless enterprise” while having “full knowledge” of its supposed “rampant infringement and other unauthorised conduct” on the website.
The filing reads: “[This] is not a regular online marketplace. Instead, [it] runs a sophisticated sales platform and actively recruits ‘sellers’ skilled at using hacking software and other exploits to create infringing digital goods and to provide illegal ‘services’ to players of ‘GTA V’.”
Take-Two asserts PlayerAuctions sells accounts through hacking that have “exorbitantly high game level ranking and in-game currency amounts”, as well as items only purchasable through gameplay or microtransactions.
The publisher added it has “repeatedly confronted PlayerAuctions with evidence of infringement and other tortious conduct”, though its cease and desist orders have so far fallen on deaf ears.
Take-Two said it has brought the issue to the court in an effort to “shut down PlayerAuctions’ rampant infringing online marketplace, end its corrupt business model, and protect the integrity of ‘GTA V’ for its players”.
