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Blizzard awarded large payout in 'WoW Glider' case
The BBC is reporting that the WoW Glider case (MDY vs. Blizzard) is moving closer to resolution. If you'll recall, the court found in favor of Blizzard Entertainnment back in July, awarding them victory in their long-running feud with 'botting' software. WoW Glider is the best known 'bot software packages, allowing World of Warcraft players to automate their AFK play. Now a damages reward has been awarded to the software developer, to the tune of $US 6 million. The article notes that damages could have been even greater had MDY not won some legal arguments during the court battle.The piece continues, "The damages award could be delayed if Blizzard appeals against the judgement which threw out its claim to double or triple the cash settlement. The case is due to go to court again in January 2009 when the remaining issues in the legal conflict look likely to be settled." Massively will continue to follow this case as it moves (slowly) towards conclusion.
Blizzard wins lawsuit against bot makers
You may recall the long running Blizzard vs. MDY battle from various reports here on WoW Insider. In short, Blizzard sued MDY, the makers of the MMOGlider bot (formerly the WOWGlider bot), claiming that the bot violated Blizzard copyright by writing portions of the game to RAM in order to work (since you only have a license to run the game files, and do not actually own them, unauthorized copies are against the EULA). They also claimed that the bot tortiously interfered with Blizzard's customer base. MDY sued them right back, claiming they had every right to sell and distribute their bots. MDY received a crushing blow yesterday as the court ruled against them, Virtually Blind reports, declaring them guilty of copyright infringement and tortious interference (Apparently, bots stealing your kills is now a legal issue, which is sort of cool). The ramifications of this decision are still being discussed in various corners of the net and legal world.
Blizzard victorious in WoW Glider case
Virtually Blind is reporting that the WoW Glider case has been resolved in Blizzard's favor. The maker of the epic fantasy MMO has long contended that the MDY developers are infringing on the company's copyright. MDY makes the WoW Glider bot software, possibly the most popular of a series of options that allow an unattended computer to 'play" World of Warcraft. This case dealt with a number of meaty virtual world/legal issues. The most important decided this week was rights Blizzard gives to players of the game. The company is allowed, according to the decision, to defend those rights against individuals that would allow players additional privileges.Terra Nova, which has had several previous discussions about this case, notes that this may be the first time gold farming is referred to in a court's opinion. There is a 7-point test for impropriety in tortious interference. The overall message of that test, says the site, is that "enabling gold farming = not cool." Check out our previous discussions of this case, and you can catch every legal jot and feint in the official ruling from the court.
Blizzard loses a round in the fight against botting
In Blizzard's attempts to get rid of gold farmers and hackers, one of their most annoyingly persistent enemies has been the WoWGlider bot, now known as MMOGlider. They've been throwing suits and countersuits at each other for a few years now, but the latest salvo seems to have gone against Blizzard, the Game Activist reports. Blizzard was trying to subpoena Joe Thaler, owner of Lavish Software LLC, maker of programs such as EQPlayNice. While Lavish Software's programs do not appear to be cheat programs on their own, they did make a deal with MDY Industries, maker of MMOGlider, to use the programs within MMOGlider. According the judge's decision, Blizzard was hoping to obtain all documentation related to the deal, all communication between Thaler and Lavish and MDY and its owner, Michael Donnelly. They also wanted a list of all WoW accounts owned by Thaler and Lavish, as well as the contents of the WTF folders of every installation of WOW used by Thaler and Lavish Entertainment. Unfortunately, the Judge ruled that Blizzard was demanding information that could compromise Lavish's trade secrets and client confidentiality, and that the demand for the information within 9 days did not give Thaler and Lavish enough time to respond an gather information. It's worth noting that the judge did specifically say that Blizzard could file another subpoena that would be more narrow in scope and allow more time for Lavish and Mr. Thaler to respond, so this is probably not a fatal blow to Blizzard by any means. I personally hope not. I've never had much patience for bots, or people who feel they have a civil right to cheat at games, so I'm rooting for the big bad corporation on this one. What about you? Thanks for the link, Tyrsenus.
Blizzard suing WoWglider creator
I know what you're thinking: haven't I read about this before? You've probably read something similar, but we've moved on to the next phase of ligation: the counter-suit! Back in November MDY Industries, the creators of the automation software WoWglider, was suing Blizzard over an alleged attempt to prevent the distribution of their software. MDY wanted a court to assert their right to create and distribute WoWglider. And now Blizzard is fighting back with a lawsuit of their own. Besides asserting that the sale and promotion of WoWglider violates both the World of Warcraft EULA (end user license agreement, which you re-agree to each time you install a patch) and TOU (terms of use, which you agree to when creating your account), Blizzard claims that...Blizzard has suffered damage in an amount to be proven at trial, including but not limited to loss of goodwill among WoW users, diversion of Blizzard resources to prevent access by WoWGlider users, loss of revenue from terminated users, and decreased subscription revenue from undetected WoWGlider users.And Blizzard is asking not only for MDY to stop selling and distributing WoWglider, but also that Blizzard be given all rights and titles to the application, the source code, and all sales information. And while I'm not a lawyer, I think someone just got pwnd by Blizzard's legal department.If you are a lawyer, or if you just enjoy reading dense pages of text, you may like to see the full text of Blizzard's counter-suit and MDY's initial complaint.[Thanks, Prissy]
Blizzard sued by WoW Glider creator
MDY Industries, the creators of WoW Glider, a third-party software that lets you run World of Warcraft on autopilot, are suing Blizzard in order to assert their right to distribute the software. According to the lawsuit, three gentleman representing Blizzard and parent company Vivendi came to the house of one of the MDY employees with a briefcase that allegedly contained the draft of a formal complaint. Blizzard believes WoW Glider violates their terms of service (it does) and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). MDY Industries is seeking legal right to distribute their software and any monetary supplement decided by the court. In letting you run your avatar on autopilot, WoW Glider is a tool helpful for farming gold and building experience. It works without any hacks, simply automating the same mouse clicks and keyboard inputs that you would do there. Does it nullify the ultimate point of experiencing the game? Yes. Does it assist cheaters? Absolutely. Is it wrong to create and sell a product that helps cheating? That remains to be seen.[Via WOW Insider]Download (Full text of complaint, .pdf file)
WoW Glider suing Blizzard
In case you're out of the loop, WoW Glider is a 3rd party application that automates all major aspects of gameplay. You set the parameters and it starts farming loot, experience, reputation -- whatever you'd like. This is, unsurprisingly, against Blizzard's terms of service -- those things you have to click agreement to before you play the game after every patch. But this lawsuit isn't just about whether or not WoW Glider breaks the terms of service: it's about whether or not Blizzard has the right to kill the distribution of WoW Glider. WoW Glider's complaint suggests Blizzard has been attempting to strong-arm them into stopping distribution based on alleged copyright and DMCA violation -- and WoW Glider's makers are jumping in with the first lawsuit, which (and, no, I am not a lawyer) seems to be asserting their rights to distribute WoW Glider and telling Blizzard to back off. Lawyers and non-lawyers can read the full text of the complaint and chime in with your own opinions below.[Thanks, Baratrill]
