Florida resident Jhonny Perez was sued by Take-Two Interactive last August for developing (and selling) cheat software for Grand Theft Auto V, which allegedly resulted in severe losses of at least $500,000. The publisher was already confident it could prove his guilt, but Perez made things even easier when he ignored the complaint and never showed up to court, prompting a default judgment in favor of Take-Two that granted maximum statutory damages ($150,000) plus $69,686 in attorney’s fees.
"This is the highest damages amount that has ever been awarded in a game cheating case."
In addition to the monetary damages, the Court also issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the cheat maker from continuing infringing activities moving forward. Elusive hasn’t been available for sale since last year. It was taken offline after Perez was contacted by Take-Two. "After discussions with Take-Two Interactive, we are immediately ceasing all maintenance, development, and distribution of our cheat menu services," a public announcement read at the time. At the time, the cheat maker informed its users that it would donate the proceeds to a charity which Take-Two could pick.
