dirightDigital Law JournalЦифровое право2686-9136Maxim Inozemtsev10.38044/2686-9136-2025-6-3diright-283Research ArticleARTICLESСТАТЬИCheats and anti-cheat technologies in the context of copyright: issues of qualification and liabilityЧиты и античит-технологии в контексте авторского права: вопросы квалификации и ответственностиhttps://orcid.org/0009-0001-8360-2140ГрафД. В.GrafD. V.

магистрант международно-правового факультета

119454, Москва, пр. Вернадского, 76

Denis V. Graf — Master Student (LL.M.), International Law Faculty

76, Vernadsky Ave., Moscow, 119454

den29graf2002@gmail.comМосковский государственный институт международных отношений (университет) МИД РоссииРоссияMoscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO-University)Russian Federation2025161020256152–73Copyright © Graf D.V., 20252025Граф Д.В.Graf D.V.Данная работа распространяется под лицензией Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.https://www.digitallawjournal.org/jour/article/view/283

Computer games have become an integral part of leisure activities for millions of people around the world. At the same time, the desire of players to gain a competitive advantage and the will to achieve immediate results often encourage the users to employ cheats, i.e., software tools enabling victories to be achieved dishonestly. The spread of cheats undermines the principles of fair play and creates unequal conditions for users. This, in turn, leads to a decrease in the gaming audience and, as a result, entails losses for publishers. In addition, cheats often infringe on the exclusive rights of copyright holders. In this regard, the legal issues of cheats, especially in the context of protecting the copyrights of video game copyright holders, represent a relevant research direction. This study aims to characterize cheats and anti-cheat technologies from the legal point of view, to determine their conformity with the provisions of copyright laws and with user agreements, to establish the type of responsibility of the creators of cheats, as well as to identify whether cheats are always deemed unacceptable from the legal point of view. The research was conducted using the methods of formal legal and comparative legal analysis. The former was used to assess the scope of copyright protection of video games and to discuss the capacity of individual norms to cover cheats. The latter was used to compare norms concerning technological means of copyright protection, the scope of copyright protection of video games, etc. As a result, several legal qualifications of cheats (from the point of view of criminal and civil law) were proposed. It was concluded that most modern online game cheats violate the exclusive rights of the authors as well as the provisions of user agreements. In this regard, there is a growing demand for anti-cheating technologies, which are in essence technological means of copyright protection, and in some jurisdictions, the very fact of their circumvention may result in liability.

Компьютерные игры стали неотъемлемой частью досуга миллионов людей во всем мире. При этом стремление игроков к конкурентному преимуществу и желание получить быстрый результат нередко приводят к использованию читов — программных средств, позволяющих нечестным путем добиваться побед. Распространение читов подрывает принципы честной игры, создает неравные условия для пользователей. Это, в свою очередь, приводит к уменьшению игровой аудитории и, как следствие, влечет убытки издателей. Кроме этого, зачастую читы посягают на исключительные права правообладателей. В связи с этим возрастает необходимость изучения правовой проблематики читов, особенно в контексте защиты авторских прав правообладателей видеоигр. Цель исследования — охарактеризовать с позиции права читы и технологии противодействия читам (античит), определить их взаимосвязь с нормативными актами в сфере авторского права, а также пользовательскими соглашениями, установить вид ответственности создателей читов, а также выявить, всегда ли читы недопустимы с точки зрения закона. Для достижения поставленной цели были применены такие специально-юридические методы, как формально-юридический (в частности, при анализе объема авторско-правовой охраны видеоигр и при рассуждениях о том, насколько те или иные нормы могут охватывать читы) и сравнительно-правовой (в особенности при сравнении норм, посвященных техническим средствам защиты авторских прав, объему авторско-правовой охраны видеоигр и т. д.). В результате исследования было предложено несколько квалификаций читов (уголовно- и гражданско-правовая), был сделан вывод о том, что большинство современных читов нарушают исключительные права авторов видеоигр и условия пользовательских соглашений. В связи с этим растет востребованность технологий противодействия читам, которые зачастую по сути являются техническими средствами защиты авторских прав, и в некоторых юрисдикциях за сам факт их обхода может следовать ответственность.

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The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest present.