Mom Claims Teen is a 'Scapegoat' When Sued by Epic Games for Cheating

As we reported last month, Epic Games named two Fortnite players in a lawsuit against cheaters in Fortnite: Battle Royale. The suit alleged that "Vraspir" and "Broom", infringed on the company's copyright by using a program that made changes to the game's code and thereby violating the ToS. However, it appears that one of the defendants in the lawsuit is a 14-year-old whose mother says that he is a scapegoat in Epic's ongoing battle against cheats and hacks in Fortnite.

The lawsuit stemmed from Epic's stated purpose of zero tolerance for cheating, with both defendants allegedly using an aimbot from a site that sells programs (The site costs between $5-15 a month to subscribe). This, according to Epic, violates the Terms of Service. In addition, the pair live streamed the use of the program in the game. Epic also alleges that the pair are staff members of this site.

The woman has addressed the court in a letter to make the following points according to Kotaku:

• She says that Fortnite’s terms require parental consent for minors, and that she never gave this consent.
• She says the case is based on a loss of profits, but argues that it’s a free-to-play video game, and that in order to prove a loss Epic would need to provide a statement certifying that Rogers’ cheating directly caused a “mass profit loss”.
• She claims that by going after individual players, rather than the websites selling/providing the software necessary to cheat in an online game, Epic is “using a 14 year-old child as a scapegoat”.
• She claims that her son did not, as Epic allege, help create the cheat software, but simply downloaded it as a user, and that Epic “has no capability of proving any form of modification”.
• Finally, the mother says that by releasing her son’s name publicly in conjunction with the move that Epic has violated Delaware laws related to the release of information on minors.

Users at TorrentFreak are pointing out the fact that it is not generally possible to sue underaged teens and illustrates that Epic didn't have all information about the identity of the defendants. 

Epic responded to the mother's letter:

This particular lawsuit arose as a result of the defendant filing a DMCA counterclaim to a takedown notice on a YouTube video that exposed and promoted Fortnite Battle Royale cheats and exploits. Under these circumstances, the law requires that we file suit or drop the claim.

Epic is not okay with ongoing cheating or copyright infringement from anyone at any age. As stated previously, we take cheating seriously, and we’ll pursue all available options to make sure our games are fun, fair, and competitive for players.

Epic has previously stated that it will have zero tolerance for cheaters. How this will play out in court remains to be seen.

(Click image to enlarge the letter)