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Despite mom’s plea, “Fortnite” lawsuit against teen advances

Aug 8, 2018 | 11:25 AM

CARY, N.C. — Despite a plea from a Delaware teen’s mother, developers of popular third-person shooter game “Fortnite” will be allowed to pursue their lawsuit against him after he boasted online about using cheat software.

The Herald-Sun reported Tuesday a federal judge sided with North Carolina-based Epic Games in mid-July, ruling it has a “plausible claim” for copyright infringement and other legal transgressions.

Epic filed multiple such lawsuits last fall, but this case attracted notoriety when the mother of the teen known on YouTube as “Sky Orbit” accused Epic of “using a 14-year-old child as a scapegoat.” Her letter to the judge also argued the “Fortnite” license wasn’t legally binding, because a minor can’t enter into a contract.

The case file indicates the teen hasn’t hired a lawyer or formally responded to the lawsuit, despite last month’s deadline.