San Francisco-based Niantic, the creator of the hugely popular smartphone game ‘Pokémon Go,‘ has sued Global++ for making and distributing “unauthorized derivative versions” of apps. The company claimed Global++ had made apps like ‘PokeGo++‘ and ‘Ingress++‘, which infringed on Niantic’s intellectual rights and also give users an unfair advantage.
The lawsuit filed by Niantic demands that Global++ and members should, with immediacy, stop distributing such unauthorized apps as well as stop reverse engineering the code to Niantic’s games.
Niantic has described Global++ as an “association of hackers” and has mentioned the names of some people associated with it. Ryan “ElliotRobot” Hunt who is described by Niantic as the leader of Global++ and the principal developer of the aforementioned unauthorized apps. Other than Ryan, Alen “iOS n00b” Hundur who has been described as the developer of such apps and the promoter of these apps on YouTube. A number of members of Global++ called “Doe defendants” who have yet not been identified.
Global++ has furthermore allegedly made a huge profit by selling ‘subscriptions’ to these unauthorized apps.
“On information and belief, defendants have sold ‘subscriptions’ to their Cheating Programs to hundreds of thousands of users, reaping massive profits.”
Moreover, the lawsuit indicates that Niantic’s users’ personal information was not compromised in any way by Global++.
Niantic will soon release its upcoming Harry Potter game called ‘Harry Potter: Wizards Unite’ of which Global++ apparently has already created a cracked version called ‘Potter++’. The game was available for beta testing in New Zealand and Australia since April.
Niantic has stated in its lawsuit that:
A special event is going to be held next week at Universal Studios Hollywood by Niantic and co-developer WB Games. The makers to reveal more details about the upcoming ‘Harry Potter: Wizards Unite‘ and its launch would be provided.
There have been no response from the representatives of Global++ regarding Niantic’s lawsuit.
