Here are a couple of booth babes that make me say “Wow!”
Makers of the wildly popular “World of Warcraft” online game now face a lawsuit from an eBay seller who claims he was improperly barred from selling copies of his own unofficial gaming guide.
Filed Thursday in a California federal court, the complaint alleges that Blizzard Entertainment, its parent company Vivendi Universal, and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) were wrong to order eBay to terminate auctions of “The Ultimate World of Warcraft Leveling & Gold Guide,” a book penned by 24-year-old Brian Kopp of Bronson, Florida.
During several months beginning last August, Kopp sold several hundred copies of his guide, which contains tips on playing the game and accumulating experience, at roughly $15 apiece. Weeks after his first auction went live, Blizzard, Vivendi, and the ESA began sending repeated takedown notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), asking eBay to yank the auctions because of copyright and trademark infringement concerns.
Soon it’ll be illegal to even give negative reviews. If describing how to pay a game is illegal, then it’s probably illegal to explain how the game sucks.
Kick some ass Brian Kopp….
I think I have gamed with this guy before. Of course, I’ve never played wow, nor would I admit to it. Perhaps another game, another life.
Go Kopp, get some real cash out of it.
And so continues Blizzard’s self-induced nose dive…
Copyright and trademark infringement? DCMA?
This is one of those cases where you look at big business and say “what are you thinking?” It is wrong on many levels, not the least of which is that the industry may wind up hurting themselves with this becoming a “test case”.
For many reasons (historical, etc.), the good old fashioned paper based book and the free speech it represents, occupies a hallowed space in our society. Restraining the sale of it is something NEVER taken lightly by any judge.
Good strategy! make the game less fun for your customers and sue them for making guides that allow people to enjoy your game more. The death spiral of Blizzard continues.
This posting would be better with more hot-chicks.
Does this means that Blizzard has finally run out of good gaming ideas?
I’m not a big fan of big business, but everyone is missing the point here. Kopp has been asked to stop SELLING his unauthorized guide. No one is stating he cannot still publish it and even give it away.
“No one is stating he cannot still publish it and even give it away.”
If the guide violates the DMCA when he sells it, then it violates it when he gives it away.
My guess is that Blizzard worked out exclusive deals with publishers for game guides and it’s going after anyone else publishing them. In other words it has nothing to do with protecting IP or the DMCA, it’s all about pure greed.
What if a major movie studio did the same thing with reviews? What if Sony movies worked out deals with a couple of critics for favorable reviews and sued any other critic who dared reviewed its movies. Critics give away copyrighted plots and use protected trademarks. How is this any different if it’s merely a guide?
BTW, the reason Sony can’t do that, and why Blizzard cannot do what it’s attempting to do, is good old fashion fair use rights.
DCMA and Fair Use aside, there may be good legal grounds for banning the sale of the guide based on the use of the game name (WOW) in the title of the book, provided that the developer and manufacturer did their homework and trademarked / copyrighted it.
Simple protection of intangible market value and product good will.
“, there may be good legal grounds for banning the sale of the guide based on the use of the game name (WOW) in the title of the book”
I don’t know what country you live in, but luckly we still have fair use laws in the US and such guides are perfectly legal, even if they include pictures of the game and the game title.
Q: Why is WOW the EQ2 player’s best friend?
A: It keeps all of the newbs off of EQ2.
Blizzard is in this for the money. If newbs want help, Blizzard wants part of the action. Anyone undercutting that is fair game.
It won’t get anywhere. The First Amendment allows for Freedom of the Press. That includes unflattering reviews by the press.
And, as Fox found out when they tried to sue Al Frankin for using “Fair and Balanced” as part of the title of his book, it just won’t work. I think Fox ended up paying Frankin’s lawyer too as it was a frivolous suit. Not only did Fox look bad, but they gave Frankin a lot of very free and noticed publicity.
Um, I looked into this a little and found thousands of unofficial guides that were published without makers concent. Blizzard is the first to sue, that I could find.
Bozric
Why shouldn’t he SELL IT? He created it, people want it. Uhhh…isn’t that what our society is based on…consumer supply and demand, for profit? I don’t get your brainwashed point of view……corporations have you by the nuts, eh? I’m so sorry.
Meetsy – No, I’m not being held by anyone on this… I just think if I came up with something and it became popular and then someone else wrote something derivative of my product and sold it WITHOUT my consent, I’d be pissed. Basic copyright/trademark violation.
“if I came up with something… my product and sold it WITHOUT my consent, I’d be pissed.”
I don’t know where you live, but in the US IP rights are not absolute. We have fair use to rights to review, explain, and describe copyrighted content. Under your interpretation, it’d be illegal for Spin magazine to write music reviews. It’d be illegal to write news articles about corporations, without prior permission. It’d be illegal to create fan sites to discuss your product. Where the heck to do live, anyway? Sounds depressing.
And, just to clear things up, trademarks only protect confusion in the market place. I could write a million books about Coke without any fear of losing a trademark infringement lawsuit.
Bozric,
…it’s a consumer product. You do realize that book publishers have paid authors that write ABOUT computer software programs…and do NOT kick back money to the software company, right? You know that HOW TO guides….for home improvement, crafts, and everything else under the sun, do NOT give kickbacks to the manufacturers of the products they write about…nor to the inventors of things like Sawzalls or the like? You know that cookbooks call for ingredients (sometimes by brand name) but don’t give money to the food companies? You know that magazines write about products….sometimes ones that aren’t even advertised in the magazine…and they sell the magazines!!!
What is your issue? What is the game companies point?
In MOST industries you WANT someone to write about, and even sell their writings about a product because it means more attention. More sales are from word-of-mouth, and from the “buzz” around a product that what the bloated, overpriced ad agencies in their stilted concept of “advertising” can come up with
In this case the maker of the game doesn’t get it. (But I suspect it’s a bad case of “greed”.)
And, it is NOT a basic copyright/trademark violation. Please cite the law which would prohibit this…and then cite the judicial opinions on said law.
Yes, anyone can review, explain or describe copyrighted content. That’s not my point. Look at the music industry. Artists get parodied all the time – but WITH permission. Derivative works require the copyright holder’s authorization. My ONLY flippin’ point is that the guy is trying to make a buck off of someone else’s hard work – which is why game studios license out the rights to publishers to print guides. Kopp is neither, didn’t get permission to SELL his product, which would NOT exist without Blizzard and is, IMO, why he’s wrong.
“Look at the music industry. Artists get parodied all the time – but WITH permission.”
Man, you REALLY have to be quiet. You have no idea what you’re talking about. You do not need permission to parody a copyrighted work. People like Weird Al tend to get it because he doesn’t want to piss anyone off. But there is absolutely no legal requirement. What would fair use mean if you had to get permission to use it?!
“My ONLY flippin’ point is that the guy is trying to make a buck off of someone else’s hard work “
You may not like it, but that’s the law in the US. IP laws are not absolute. Roger Ebert is making tons of bucks off of the movie industry’s hard work, but I don’t see anyone suing him. If you were king, they would, but luckily that’s not the case.
We’ll agree to disagree. I’m going to go and stand inside an anti-sea bear circle now, mkay?
“I’m going to go and stand inside an anti-sea bear circle now…”
Just be sure to wear your anti-sea-rhinoceros underwear!
They are using the courts to punish people.We can fix this if losers pay all legal expenses.
Kopp is suing Blizzard… not the other way around. (okay, I’m done now)
Ok lets see the pics from the after party 🙂