The old adage that "Cheaters Never Prosper" isn't always true, but a California federal court has ruled that Blizzard will prosper to the tune of $8.6 million in a case against Bossland GMBH, maker of numerous cheats and workarounds for Blizzard's games.

The ruling was not a decision on the merits of the case, however. It was a default judgment (via Polygon) issued by the court when Bossland refused to defend itself after its motion to dismiss was denied. The amount was determined based on 42,818 counts of copyright infringement caused by bots created through Bossland programs called Honorbuddy, Watchover Tyrant, and Hearthbuddy. Blizzard argued that the troublesome software, in essence, resold altered code of the games by going around its anti-cheat protection.

The ruling prohibits Bossland from selling any of is products applicable to Blizzard games in the United States. Bossland has vowed to appeal the ruling declining the motion to dismiss, and will likely appeal this ruling as well. The suit was filed just last month.

The front page of Bossland's website is full of suits by Blizzard in which it is defending itself, not only in the United States, but Germany and the U.K. as well. Blizzard did lose a case in Germany over a Heroes of the Storm cheat, and was required to pay court costs and attorney fees.

Bossland has maintained that "botting is not against the law," and that may be true. But players are required to sign terms of service, and Bossland's products go against the ToS, encouraging players to cheat the system. Players frown heavily on bots, which in turn upsets Blizzard because it affects the enjoyment of its games. That in turn damages Blizzard's reputation if it does not take steps to stop the offending programs. Hence the need to settle such cases in court.