Bungie Is Being Sued For Copyright Infringement Over The Red War In Destiny 2

Bungie is in hot water again/still.

As per Massively Overpowered, a copyright infringement lawsuit against the “Red War” storyline in the free-to-play MMO first-person shooter Destiny 2 is officially moving forward after a federal judge denied the company’s motion to dismiss the case. The lawsuit, filed by author Matthew Kelsey Martineau, who goes by his pen name Caspar Cole, claims the company copied elements from his science fiction writing for use in the said narrative that appeared in the game’s launch version. (It’s now removed.) Bungie argued the claims were too vague and cited fan-made YouTube videos and wiki entries to show that the concepts Martineau described were publicly available.

However, Judge Susie Morgan rejected the company’s defense, stating that third-party content like the above examples does not constitute reliable, authentic evidence for a side-by-side comparison. Bungie had claimed it couldn’t provide original builds of the Red War content due to technical limitations caused by game updates and vaulting. And yet the judge found this reasoning insufficient, noting the absence of direct source material undermined the company’s motion to dismiss.