Take-Two Aims to Take Down Online Black Market Website Due to Copyright Infringement

Take-Two Interactive has set its sights on an online marketplace called PlayerAuctions, aiming to take the site down. According to a lawsuit filed by the company, Take-Two claims that PlayerAuctions hosts thousands of illicit listings related to Grand Theft Auto.

The Grand Theft Auto games are developed by Rockstar Games, Inc., a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive. As such, Take-Two is working to protect its intellectual property. In the lawsuit, Take-Two alleges that PlayerAuctions “knowingly and willfully commits, contributes to, induces, and profits from copyright infringement.” The company further claims that the site features “thousands of illicit listings” where sellers offer “Modded Accounts,” “Money Drop Services,” and “Account Boosting Services.”

The lawsuit states that these listings cannot be created through legal means. For example, Take-Two asserts that Modded Accounts are player accounts manipulated using software that hacks its copyrighted source code—an obvious case of copyright infringement. Similarly, Money Drop Services and Account Boosting Services involve unauthorized modifications to the game.

Take-Two also claims that “PlayerAuctions reaps fantastic financial benefits from the infringement,” estimating the site’s revenue from these activities to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars per year.

In its lawsuit, Take-Two asserts that it is entitled to the maximum statutory damages of $150,000 for each copyright infringement. The company also points out that each time a buyer or seller conducts business on PlayerAuctions, they violate Rockstar’s Terms of Service.

One of Take-Two’s main concerns is the potential for a “race to the bottom,” where players feel pressured to purchase goods and services from unauthorized sources to keep up with those who have used PlayerAuctions’ services.

A similar lawsuit was filed in February against the same website, this time by Roblox. In that case, Roblox also claimed that PlayerAuctions violated the game’s Terms of Use and Community Standards.