Niantic Wins $5 Million Law Suit About Pokemon Go Against Hacker Group

Niantic settled a 2019 copyright infringement lawsuit worth $5 million dollars against Global++.

Niantic kicks off the year with a good start on the work front. The Pokemon Go creators have reason to celebrate after a tedious and expensive lawsuit was settled in their favor. Let’s take a closer look.

San Francisco based Pokemon Go developers Niantic won a 2019 copyright infringement lawsuit worth $5 million against hacking group Global++. The latter was made to admit to several types of copyright infringement and computer abuse violations.

Global++ was accused of creating and selling modified versions of Niantic’s proprietary games including Pokemon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite back in 2019. These illegal versions allowed users to modify their GPS locations and use features like “auto-walk” to cheat the game. Talk about playing in Australia from Manila!

Despite several cease and desist letters, Global++ continued its distribution of the hacked versions. Consequently, Niantic filed a lawsuit against the hacking group claiming the latter had earned millions of dollars by selling the hacked versions, cheats, and subscriptions for Niantic proprietaries.

According to Niantic, the only legal way to play and enjoy these AR games, like Pokemon Go, is to download them from their licensed distributors. Only subscriptions made on apps downloaded from these servers will have the authorization to access Niantic servers owing to a unique code.

Global++ was found guilty of illegally accessing, using, and profiting from this code. Furthermore, the hacking group also admitted to breaching federal laws like Copyright infringement and California’s Computer Data Access and Fraud Act.

Based on the settlement, Global++ has to pay Niantic $5 million and also cease many of its activities, including making Niantic hacks, selling programs that include Niantic proprietary software/content, and accessing any Niantic data.

With the company netting a jaw-dropping 1.92 billion dollars in revenue last year, it’s safe to say that Niantic financial advisors are having the time of their lives.

About Pokemon Go

Developed by Niantic and published by Nintendo, Pokémon Go is a free-to-play augmented reality (AR) game. The game was released in July 2016 for iOS and Android mobile devices.

Directed by Tatsuo Nomura, the game utilizes the GPS on mobile devices to locate, capture, train, and battle Pokémon. The game supports in-app purchases to buy in-game currency used to procure various items. The game launched with around 150 Pokémon species, which had increased to around 600 by 2020.

Praised by both critics and fans for its concept and user-friendly interface, it was one of the most profitable games of 2016. Netting a whopping 1.92 billion dollars in revenue last year itself. With over 500 million downloads, it is a pioneer of location-based and AR games.