EULA violations = copyright infringement, even if the violation outside of a EULA isn't

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/07/you-bought-it-you-dont-own-it

by dominik • 18 years ago

13 1 18 years ago

gamerates• 18 years ago

The blog of my startup (Think WSJ News Coverage + Consumer Reports Reviews + Price Comparison + Throw in some nifty charts, all for the virtual gaming currency industry) was covering this today.

For a bit of a summary of the case and some commentary feel free to check it out at: http://www.gamerates.com/posts/show/blizzard_wins_legal_case...

In short, Blizzard who makes the MMO World of Warcraft is suing the creators of a bot that plays the game for you (note: it doesn't hack the game, or do anything a normal player can't) as using the bot violates the Terms of Service that you click "accept" to everytime you play the game. They have ruled that such an "EULA" violation is in fact copyright infringement as the game loads into your RAM and then you are modifying the "experience" of the game outside the realms of the Terms of Service, hence a copyright infringement.

If it is appealed, I think the decision will change. It's just way too wide of a scope. Under these definitions any virus protection program that scans the World of Warcraft client could be violating the EULA as it's 3rd party and also be subject of "copyright infringement". Interesting enough World of Warcraft provides an anti-cheating tool called Warden that scans your computer for known bots which in itself could be a copyright infringement if it is violating the EULA of let's say the bot program (Glider, who is being sued) if they say in it's own EULA that it's illegal to have any 3rd party tool scan it.

EULA violations = copyright infringement, even if the violation outside of a EULA isn't

Related Stories