No, You Can't Up Your Level with Bots ...
A judge has sided with Blizzard in its lawsuit against the maker of a third-party leveling-app, Michael Donnelly of MDY Industries, which sells the WoWGlider (or MMO Glider) utility for $25.
U.S. District Judge David Campbell ruled that because using the Glider 'bot is prohibited by Blizzard's World of Warcraft license, "Glider users therefore infringe Blizzard's copyright."
He did, however, reject part of Blizzard's attempts to invoke the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's controversial anti-circumvention sections against Donnelly. (The DMCA follows a parallel track to traditional copyright law, meaning it's possible to infringe a copyright without violating the DMCA too.)
The case is relatively unusual in that it attracted an amicus brief filed by Public Knowledge, a group that advocates scaling back copyright law. It said that Blizzard's copyright theory was overly broad and dangerous.
Campbell has sold 100,000 copies of his app, a pretty decent number. This isn't a verdict: Blizzard won summary judgment in its copyright claims; Donnelly won summary judgment on of the DMCA claim. The case continues until there's a settlement, or a trial.
U.S. District Judge David Campbell ruled that because using the Glider 'bot is prohibited by Blizzard's World of Warcraft license, "Glider users therefore infringe Blizzard's copyright."
He did, however, reject part of Blizzard's attempts to invoke the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's controversial anti-circumvention sections against Donnelly. (The DMCA follows a parallel track to traditional copyright law, meaning it's possible to infringe a copyright without violating the DMCA too.)
The case is relatively unusual in that it attracted an amicus brief filed by Public Knowledge, a group that advocates scaling back copyright law. It said that Blizzard's copyright theory was overly broad and dangerous.
Campbell has sold 100,000 copies of his app, a pretty decent number. This isn't a verdict: Blizzard won summary judgment in its copyright claims; Donnelly won summary judgment on of the DMCA claim. The case continues until there's a settlement, or a trial.
