3 Count: Destiny’s Destiny

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1: Bungie & Teenage Destiny 2 Cheat Settle Differences With $500K Permaban

First off today, Andy Maxwell at Torrentfreak writes that the video game company Bungie has reached a settlement with a 17-year-old cheat creator that will see him paying some $500,000 in damages and a permanent injunction filed against him to prevent him from creating new cheats.

The lawsuit was filed in July 2022 by Bungie, accusing the minor of copyright infringement for developing cheating software for Bungie-owned games, most notably Destiny 2. According to the lawsuit, the minor’s work was a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) as it circumvented anti-cheat protections and also used Bungie-created code without a license.

However, the case is now settled, with the minor agreeing to pay $300,000 in statutory damages for copyright infringement and $200,000 for 100 acts of circumvention. The minor is also banned from any interaction with Bungie, including creating new cheat software for Bungie games or using any Bungie assets in other projects.

2: Sony Copyright Claims for Bewitched Spell Trouble for Group that Preserves old TV

Next up today, Jon Broodkin at Ars Technica reports that YouTube Rick Klein will be allowed to keep his YouTube channel following a series of takedown notices filed by Sony Pictures Entertainment over full episodes of the TV show Bewitched, which were on his channel.

Klein operates a YouTube channel named Museum of Classic Chicago Television, which features about 5,000 videos that include old commercials, news broadcasts and other moments from Chicago TV history. However, the channel was hit with six separate copyright strikes from Sony over old episodes of Bewitched, which were featured on the channel.

That put Klein’s channel in danger of being shut down. However, Sony has stepped in and ordered its copyright enforcement contractor, MarkScan, to rescind the notices. However, while this deal keeps the channel alive, the deal requires Klein to remove the Bewitched episodes himself and to disable access to other Sony-owned shows.

3: Jason Allen’s AI Art Won the Colorado Fair — But Now the Feds Say it Can’t Get a Copyright

Finally today, Andrew Kenny at Colorado Public Radio reports that artist Jason Allen has said that the US Copyright Office (USCO) has denied him a registration on an AI-generated piece of artwork.

Allen rose to prominence in September 2022 after he submitted an AI-generated work , Théâtre D’opéra Spatial, to the Colorado State Fair. He ended up winning that competition, stoking a backlash against both himself and the fair.

However, now Allen has said that the USCO has rejected a copyright application for the piece, saying that he is not the author of it. This is in keeping with previous USCO rulings, which found that, for a copyright to be valid, the work needed a human author. Allen said that he has appealed the decision.

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