PixelatedCandy, the developer behind and creator of the fantasy experience Crown Academy, has been cleared in federal court after Royale High scripter David Ndalamba, Ice7, lost his lawsuit in which he claimed that PixelatedCandy allowed and encouraged one of her Crown Academy developers, Eli, to steal assets and source code from another fantasy role play experience, Royale High, and implement them into Crown Academy.
On April 12, 2022, PixelatedCandy released an official statement regarding this lawsuit on Twitter, stating that she's "glad that the jury determined what [she] knew to be true all along," referencing the jury's unanimous conclusion that she did not, and has not, engaged in any copyright infringement or misappropriation in relation to Royale High.
For those unfamiliar with this situation, Ndalamba filed a federal copyright infringement and misappropriation lawsuit against PixelatedCandy in July of 2020 in which he claimed that Eli, who previously worked for Royale High before moving to work for Crown Academy, stole copies of Royale High and implemented various source codes and assets from it into Crown Academy during its production, violating his signed NDA. The lawsuit also claimed that PixelatedCandy was "aware and supportive of the theft, and even instructed [Eli] to steal because she knew that he had access to [the] game."
Ndalamba stated that he received all of this information from Tyler Gnass, StarWars on Roblox, who previously worked for Crown Academy as a coder before being let go for breaching his contract. According to Ndalamba, PixelatedCandy and Eli claimed that Gnass's information was false and that he was simply acting out as a "disgruntled ex-employee," but Ndalamba believed Gnass to be telling the truth. The court, however, determined otherwise.
Shortly after the lawsuit was filed by Ndalamba, Taylor Sterling, husband of PixelatedCandy and fellow Roblox developer, tweeted that he and his wife were receiving exorbitant amounts of hate in response to the claims made about them and asked Royale High developers—Beeism, Monika, and Ndalamba himself—to leave his family alone.
In a TwitLonger posted on July 4, 2020, Sterling stated that Monika obtained his address without his permission and made a false police report to send an officer to his residence, claiming that friends, family, and co-workers hadn't heard from him in over two months when, in reality, Sterling was in regular, daily contact with Crown Academy, MadCity, and Fashion Famous co-workers and real-life friends.
Sterling went on to state his belief that Monika sent the officer to his home in hopes of confirming his family's address for future plans, not because there was any real worry, and that he would be pursuing legal action against her because of the false statement. Sterling then announced that he would be taking legal action against Beeism as well, stating that PixelCandy has been a victim of defamation from Beeism since 2017, with the Royale High developer accusing PixelatedCandy of being a pedophile, despite Sterling being 19 when they met, and spreading other reportedly false information about her.
At the end of his statement, Sterling mentions that the stress that this situation has caused him and his family has led to various mental health issues, including depression and anxiety, and has taken a toll on the couple's marriage. On May 9, 2020, Sterling experienced a, what he has a deemed, mental breakdown on Twitter where he put out multiple sporadic and seemingly random tweets in which he claimed that PixelatedCandy had drained his bank account, stolen his house, and left him with nothing except for his car.
A few minutes later, Sterling then posted a follow-up tweet saying "Sorry, it's not true I'm just upset. I messed up," followed by another string of cryptic tweets. The next day, on May 10, 2022, Sterling deleted these tweets and replaced them with a final update in which he asked users to leave PixelatedCandy alone and stop sending her death threats.
On April 14, 2022, Ndalamba tweeted to announce that while he was disappointed at the loss of the copyright infringement lawsuit against PixelatedCandy, he's pleased to have won the defamation lawsuit against her, which ended up involving claims of assault, libel, and slander. In the same tweet, Ndalamba confirmed that, while PixelatedCandy has been cleared, Eli will continue to be pursued legally, stating that "claims are still pending" against him and that "a more complete statement will be released once the case is actually over."
As more information is released regarding this situation, we will update this article accordingly.
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Crown Academy is cleared in federal court after nearly two years of battling theft claims
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