Blizzard suing creators of StarCraft II cheat pack

Blizzard is suing the creators of the "ValiantChaos MapHack" program -- a cheat tool that allows players of StarCraft II to see information they wouldn't usually have access to, including data that would be excluded by fog-of-war and otherwise invisible to them. Blizzard argues that the parties responsible -- which are currently unknown to it -- are violating copyright law to make the pack available, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act as well as state law. "Defendants have infringed Blizzard’s copyrights in StarCraft II, including by reproducing and adapting StarCraft II without authorization," the complaint alleges. It also alleges that players who use the hack package infringe Blizzard's copyright in the game, which matters inasmuch as they are enabled to do so by the defendants. The catch? Blizzard is unable to identify the names of the defendants. The hope is that this will change if the lawsuit allows the company to gain access to pertinent data during the discovery process, however. "Unfortunately, the gaming experience of legitimate players of StarCraft II is under near constant attack by cheaters, scammers, and other wrongdoers seeking to exploit StarCraft II for their own illegitimate ends. For this reason, Blizzard seeks to protect the sanctity of the StarCraft II gaming experience through both technical and contractual measures," the complaint against ValiantChaos says in part. The pack is available via the ValiantChaos Forums, which requires registration and a $62.50 "donation" to gain access to its VIP area and download the MapHack software. Blizzard's complaint was first uncovered by TorrentFreak; you can read it on Kotaku. This thread on Blizzhackers lists the advantages to players who use the ValiantChaos MapHack.