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Famed felon seeks to join MDY vs Blizzard
If you've been keeping up, you already know of the court battle between Blizzard and MDY over the Glider automation software used with World of Warcraft. Another amicus brief has been filed in the case, and this one is a real attention-getter. An amicus brief (often formally named amicus curiae -- friend of the court) is usually (but not always) where a concerned party submits additional information to the court, often to inform it of a wider impact or implication of certain outcomes beyond the fundamental interests of the direct parties to the case, or to provide other information which the court may be lacking. This isn't uncommon in particularly controversial, far-reaching or complex legal cases. That can go a little further, however, to what is called Intervention, where a third-party seeks to become a party to the case already in progress. The filer of the Intervention is Jonathan Lee Riches, who is incontestably our favorite US Federal Prison inmate. Riches has previously sued "Adolf Hitler's National Socialist Party", "13 tribes of Israel", Plato, Nostradamus, Che Guevarra, Jimmy Hoffa, the Lincoln Memorial, the Eiffel Tower, the Garden of Eden, the Roman Empire, the Appalachian Trail, Three Mile Island (the island, not just the power-plant), Rockstar Games, George W Bush, Steve Jobs, Perez Hilton, Britney Spears, and hundreds more. Now he's suing Blizzard because of World of Warcraft, and ... well, let's take a look at why ...
Minsky vs Linden Lab: Linden Lab responds, asks court to okay banning
Well, not 'banning', per se -- the term isn't exactly a meaningful one in a Second Life context -- Linden Lab is asking for the court to approve its termination of Minsky's account as a part of a general package of relief. As you may recall, Linden Lab and Minsky have been duking it out over trademarks: Minsky with his registered SLART trademark, and Linden Lab with its unregistered SL trademark. Now, Linden Lab doesn't normally bother with getting court-approval for terminating an account, yet they have asked for it in this instance. Likely they're worried that if they followed their normal procedure, certain parts of the Second Life Terms of Service would fall back under court scrutiny again -- and it did not fare at all well the last time that happened.
Spying on avatars okay? Duranske seeks case-law
Virtually Blind's Benjamin Duranske was, just as we were, taken somewhat aback by a recent article that reported that Professor George Stein, the Director of the Cyberspace and Information Operations Study Center at the Air Force's Air War College ("The Intellectual and Leadership Center of the Air Force") told people attending a seminar on security issues and emerging technology that it was okay to spy on avatars because "the Supreme Court has ruled that avatars are not real people" and that avatars are, thus, "not governed by laws." -- thus concluding that there are no significant legal barriers to spying and surveillance on them. Ouch, huh? We here at Massively have to call bullshit on that. No actual case-law was cited by name, so there's no evidence at this stage that such a ruling exists. Duranske is digging deep to find out if there might be such a ruling and is looking for help in running down any possible references. Up for grabs for one contributor is a signed copy of his book, Virtual Law. Neither we nor Duranske think anything will turn up to substantiate the claim, but who knows? Maybe there is some obscure US Supreme Court ruling out there that we've all missed.
Chinese gamer sued for using WoW add-on
What if World of Warcraft had no add-ons, would you still play? Worse yet, what if they had the add-ons, and you were aware of them, but it was actually illegal to use them? That's the state of the game in China right now, thanks to the country's licensed WoW distributor, The9.As part of The9's ongoing war against add-ons, they introduced anti-plugin software in 2004, and have threatened to close down any accounts that circumvented that software. In fact, the company just recently won a lawsuit that stemmed from a player who got their account closed when they were shown to use an add-on. In an article discussing this subject over at Virtually Blind, they suggest a server made just for add-ons, for anyone who wishes to participate. Taking into consideration the fact that China would probably never allow this, what are your thoughts?EDIT: It seems there was some confusion in the original article's translation, attributing legal add-ons to illegal plug-ins or hacking software. Our apologies for the misunderstanding in quoting the Virtually Blind article, and thank you to all who pointed this out.
Minsky vs Linden Lab: Restraining orders and petitions
The dispute between Richard Minsky (registered owner of the SLART trademark), and Linden Lab (applicant for the SL trademark) has been heating up. Minsky previously filed a civil suit in a federal court, naming Linden Lab, Philip Rosedale, Mitch Kapor and one or more other Second Life users (as John Does) for (variously) trademark infringement, trademark dilution, tortious interference, and fraud. Until such time as the judge decides whether a preliminary injunction should be granted, a temporary restraining order has been put in place -- most of the restraint being applied to Linden Lab. Meanwhile, Linden Lab has filed a petition of cancellation seeking to have the US Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO) cancel Minsky's ownership of the SLART trademark. Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.
Minsky vs Linden Lab: Minsky's mark
You may remember Richard Minsky, founder of The Center for Book Arts in New York City and owner of SLART Magazine. We previously wrote about his assertion of his rights and obligations with respect to his SLART trademark, which covers (among other things) Minsky's SLART magazine. The SL portion obviously represents Second Life, and the ART well... that's art. Minsky originally filed his SLART trademark on 22 March, 2007. It was published for opposition on 18 September, 2007, and finally granted formal registration by the US Patent and Trademarks office on 18 March, 2008 (registration number 3399258). SLART, therefore, is owned by Minsky insofar as the US Government is concerned at the present time, whether that grant was conferred rightly or wrongly, unless it is somehow overturned or abandoned. Now he has filed a civil suit in a federal court, naming Linden Lab, Philip Rosedale, Mitch Kapor and one or more other Second Life users (as John Does) for (variously) trademark infringement, trademark dilution, tortious interference (that is interference that causes injury), and fraud. Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.
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.
Hernandez v. IGE: Brock Pierce declaration and Hernandez compel developments
Antonio Hernandez filed a lawsuit in 2007 against IGE, the MMOG-currency for real dollars illicit emporium. Hernandez claims IGE diminishes the overall playing experience for legitimate players and filed on the grounds that stem from farming gold, spamming chat, and camping spawns it allegedly prevented players from receiving full benefits Blizzard intended via World of Warcraft's End User License Agreement. Eight weeks remain in the fact discovery phase under the court's calendar and two recent developments have surfaced. First, a declaration on behalf of IGE's CEO Brock Pierce which states IGE merely holds stock in Affinity Media INC. and does not employ anyone nor have anything to do with the alleged activities in the Amended Complaint was filed. Second, Hernandez has moved to compel production of documents and asked the court to force IGE to respond fully to plaintiff's interrogatories.Virtually Blind has been following the lawsuit closely since the outset and has all legal documentation available for download.
MDY and Blizzard continue to cross blades
World of Warcraft seems to be the focus of virtual law, lawsuits, angry gnomes, and all sorts of fun these days. Not only is a player suing IGE due to their gold selling practices, but Blizzard also took MDY, makers of the glider program, to court. Now, MDY and Blizzard are moving closer to getting this battle finished.The arena of choice is the US District Court of Arizona and the two sides put forth their best efforts and finished their replies. Now we just have to wait for the federal justice system to make a decision on summary judgment. As Virtually Blind's Benjamin Duranske points out, that could take some time. Nonetheless, a few people are following such lawsuits closely since this is new territory for the courts and the MMO industry. Some fear the cases bring the federal government onto virtual turf, others think it is time for an end to cheating and want government help, and a few players are indifferent and just want to get their characters to level 70 before Wrath of the Lich King arrives.
Jail time given to Chinese pirate server operators
In the continuing war against pirate servers, three Chinese men have been given jail sentences for running a ZT Online server.Chen Jian, the main builder of the server, has been sentenced to one year in jail, while his accomplices, Shi Zunkai and Sun Jun, were given ten months and nine months respectively. Also included in the final sentence was a fine of 60,000 RMB to be paid to Giant Interactive as damages for the activities of the server.
IGE founders settlement in doubt, Judge asks WTF
District Court Judge Manuel Real has ordered IGE's Debonneville and Pierce to a status conference at 10AM US Pacific time tomorrow morning (Friday, 25 April). As you may recall, Debonneville and Pierce were settling and had until 14 April to finalize that. Well, apparently it hasn't been settled and Judge Real wants to know what the heck is up with that, as nothing has been filed by the due-date, though both parties said that they had agreed on all the essentials.
Robert Leatherwood is a loser, settles with Eros LLC
Texan teen, Robert Leatherwood, has settled the Second Life copyright violation lawsuit with Eros LLC, finally having admitted to also being Volkov Cattaneo - which he had previously repeatedly denied as Cattaneo, while simultaneously mocking the case against him and admitting wrongdoing and copyright violation. As Leatherwood failed to lift a finger in his defense -- not even responding to papers served -- the court handed down a default against Leatherwood, essentially making him the loser, regardless.
Blizzard defeats Peons4Hire gold farmers in court
In news likely to have repercussions for similar cases, Blizzard has handily won their lawsuit against the gold farming outfit Peons4Hire (aka Game Dollar). The permanent injunction [pdf] they were awarded in the suit's settlement effectively means you'll never see a Peon spam message in your mailbox or chat window ever again. The original suit was filed because of Blizzard's belief [pdf] that this gold spam 'diminished players' game experience and cost Blizzard subscribers, bandwidth, employee time, and ultimately, revenue.'The injunction deals with that by prohibiting Game Dollar/Peons from selling virtual assets from World of Warcraft, or powerleveling characters in the game. They're also legally enjoined from using the chat or in-game mail system to advertise their service ... possibly the first time I've seen a court case refer to a virtual world's specific forms of communication. Beyond all that, Game Dollar is further prohibited from investing in a new company that engages in these activities. Read on for ... the catch. (There always is one.)
IGE founders in legal battle
Well, it seems like everyone else has had a chance to say bad things about RMT company IGE. Well, now co-founder Alan Debonneville has plenty of bad things to say himself, in his lawsuit for "among other things, numerous breaches of fiduciary duty, breaches of contract, and fraud" against IGE founder Brock Pierce. "Pierce has broken every fiduciary duty known to jurisprudence and stolen millions of dollars of shares of IGE US, LLC" the complaint asserts - and then it gets mean.
Hernandez drops HK IGE - Florida Economic Crimes Office investigates
If you've been following Hernandez vs IGE, you'll probably be a bit surprised to find that the Plaintiff (Hernandez) has dropped Hong Kong Internet Gaming Entertainment Limited (IGE) from the Defendants. USA IGE US LLC (the other IGE) remains on the docket. The Plaintiff alleges that IGE is gold-farming, spawn-camping, devaluing gold, spamming chat, and generally screwing up the experience for everyone else.
Herndandez vs IGE - IGE withdraws motion to stay/dismiss
There has been a new development with the uncertified class action Herndandez vs IGE. The Plaintiff alleges that IGE is gold-farming, spawn-camping, devaluing gold, spamming chat, and generally screwing up the experience for everyone else. Defendant IGE filed a motion to stay/dismiss in favor of arbitration on 26 October. IGE has now changed it's stance and withdrawn that motion, and gives the impression that it will answer the complaint in court. That could only be an impression, however.
Investors sue game operator for stopping gold-farming
No, I'm not making this up. In October Giant Interactive Group Inc took action against gold farmers in their MMO, Zheng Tu Online (reportedly the most popular online game in China in 2006, with 1.3 million active subscribers). Giant changed the game-mechanics to prejudice against gold farmers, just one month before their IPO in November. Well, after kicking out all those gold farmers who were paying subscribers, concurrency figures fell, as did total registrations - and the investors are apparently cross with Giant for both not disclosing their action against the gold farmers, and using the registration figures for September (before the rules-change was made) in their IPO registration statement, instead of the October figures.
Simon says: yes to settlement, this time
Rase Kenzo (aka Thomas Simon) has pulled a 180, and accepted a settlement offered by Frank Taney, the lawyer representing six well-known Second Life content creators. One of the conditions of the settlement is that everyone keeps quiet about the whole thing - however the terms of the settlement that have been presented to the court for approval are available.
Default entered against Leatherwood
Eros LLC has won its case against Texan teenager, Robert Leatherwood (who may or may not be avatar Volkov Cattaneo - it actually no longer matters now if he is or isn't). Two weeks ago we reported that Leatherwood had failed to respond to the papers served to him in October, and that lawyer Frank Taney (representing plaintiff Eros LLC) was petitioning the court for default judgement.
