You’ve probably seen this floating around the internet, maybe you haven’t. For those of you who have no clue what I’m talking about, the whole article may be beneficial. For those who already know what I’m talking about, jump to part two.

Part One: Backstory

Quite a while ago, Blizzard sued MDY LLC (Glider) for EULA violation because it copied bits of World of Warcraft into RAM, did wonderful things to them, and somehow subverted Warden. End result: it played the game for you; AKA Botting. Glider ran alongside WoW, automating the ‘boring’ grinding, resource harvesting, traveling, etc. Essentially, players could create high level characters without ever actually playing the game. The program wasn’t hard to use and it was very hard to get caught with (most of the time). Anyone with half a brain could effectively use Glider to their personal gain.

Glider wasn’t just any old bot, though. There are several WoWBots floating around the internet and Blizzard hasn’t launched suits against them. Glider just happens to be one of the most successful. MDY is supposed to have made $2.8million off of Glider - probably why Blizzard is taking action.

Here’s where things start to get messy. Legally, I mean. MDY had a visit from some Blizzard cronies, Blizzard filed suit against MDY, and MDY filed a counter-suit. I’m not going to get into legal technicalities, you’re welcome to check Virtually Blind for their very complete coverage of the case.

To sum it up in a relatively understandable manner: Blizzard claimed that Glider violated copyright by loading WoW software into RAM. Legal motions went under way, summary of judgement was filed, the DRA filed an Amicus Curariae (friend of the court) Brief, which Blizzard responded to, and Blizzard won its summary judgement motion.

Part Two: What Happened Last Week

I was too caught up in the announcements of E3 to notice this ruling last week. Pardon my tardiness.

So sum it up nicely: MDY lost the first round on both the Copyright and Tortious Interference claims. Straight from the court:

Blizzard owns a valid copyright in the game client software, Blizzard has granted a limited license for WoW players to use the software, use of the software with Glider falls outside the scope of the license established in section 4 of the TOU, use of Glider includes copying to RAM within the meaning of section 106 of the Copyright Act, users of WoW and Glider are not entitled to a section 117 defense, and Glider users therefore infringe Blizzard’s copyright. MDY does not dispute that the other requirements for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement are met, nor has MDY established a misuse defense. The Court accordingly will grant summary judgment in favor of Blizzard with respect to liability on the contributory and vicarious copyright infringement claims in Counts II and III.

See here for more details on the rest of the ruling.

Part Three: What Now?

What are the implications of all this?

Well:

1. It scares me just how much power a ToS/EULA may have . Something that I haphazardly click ‘yes’ to when I install most software. Something that can more or less say anything it wants to. Although, I seriously doubt that it would be a major problem.

2. The Glider problem isn’t going away. End of story. Need I say more?  This really won’t affect the Asian virtual currency market, considering they usually use most of their own stuff.

3. What will happen if Blizzard eventually wins. Do they tackle large gold farming firms, etc? Should be interesting to see how things pan out.

4. The precedent this may set for other software companies is disturbing. All software must utilize data in system memory and buyers have the right to make a copy of the software in their RAM. Considering the violation of copyright was directly tied to this, it may set a precedent in copyright vs owners rights. Let’s hope not.

What do you think?