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Blizzard Stomps Bnetd in DMCA Case
base3 writes "The EFF reported that the Vivendi/Blizzard vs. the good guys case has been decided, and it doesn't look good. Some highlights from the ruling
are: A clickthrough EULA isn't unconscionable (and thus enforceable); Fair Use rights can be waived in a EULA; First Sale rights (!) can be waived in a EULA; The DMCA's interoperability provisions are not a defense. If this ruling is allowed to stand, it will allow one-sided EULAs to force the waiver of the rights of First Sale and Fair Use. This, combined with the Supreme Court's recent assent to perpetual copyright, a few decades at a time, will destroy any semblance of balance in U.S. copyright law. Fortunately, the EFF plans to appeal the ruling."
Better?
If you want it to get better, you have to do something about it, not just sit on your ass and say "it will probably get even worse!"
When things get better, it's cause someone stood up and said "I want to make things better!"
Think american revolution, WW2, and the people who protested vietnam. These people did something, because the faced the fact: Yes, if you keep sitting there complaining,
IT WILL GET A LOT WORSE!
Now we have one. And they are legally binding...
Joy Joy.
Been saying all along you CAN waive rights via agreement of a contract..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
It's a press statement by Blizzard that says "Don't buy our products!".
Yay our favorite game company won!
Now the boycott on them can end! Enough of those pesky morals and ethics. I mean they make AWESOME video games. No one's gonna remember your sacrifice against a game company. So GAME ON!
WOOO HOOO!
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
You don't get to read the EULA before you have already purchased the software and many stores will NOT take back opened software. I see some lawsuits coming against said stores if this appeal doesn't work out. Imagine if when you bought a music CD you had to sign a contract saying you wouldn't allow anyone but yourself to hear any time you played it.
--
WHO ATE MY BREAKFAST PANTS?
...would it be legal to make backups of the software BEFORE agreeing to the EULA?
The EFF reported that the Vivendi/Blizzard vs. the good guys case has been decided, and it doesn't look good.
Thanks for letting us know who the good guys are! I can never figure out who's right or wrong myself, and I like it when I can count on Slashdot telling me that.
So say you click thru a EULA, you agree to it. You install the software and then decide to pirate it, saying "the EULA is not legally enforcable".
You do that, that's retarded.
You want to know a better solution? Don't agree with the EULA. If you don't like the terms that it sets out for you, stop the install, put the media back in the box, and drive back to the store and bitch about it.
Then simply don't buy that software from them again.
You know what would happen if people did that?
Bizzard (and other software companies) would STOP MAKING UNREASONABLE DEMANDS ON THEIR CUSTOMERS.
Whala, problem solved.
And saying that it won't work beause people are sheep is no excuse for your own llamma-like behavior. Stand up for yourself, stop being such a wimp all the time.
I mean don't you think that it's pretty pathetic to trade your self respect in order to play WoW?
I do.
It roughly translates to "Boycott Blizzard."
This ruling gives publishers the ability to take away all consumer rights under copyright law. It basically overrules copyright law with whatever they put in their EULA.
You can't play without clicking through the license. You can't read the EULA without opening the package and running the software. You can't return unopened software (to most stores, again for mostly copyright reasons).
So unless you consent to the possibility of giving up all rights, you should not purchase any software. You have no idea what the restrictions of the license are until after you've given them your money.
An extension of this could mean that any documents you create under a future version of MS Office could potentially be copyrighted by MS. Granted that would be a very stupid thing for MS to do, but this ruling seems to make it possible.
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...to open a second front against companies like this, and just refuse to buy their products?
If Blizzard is a necessity of life for you, like food, I guess you lose. But it seems like a luxury to me, and isn't it time to just refuse to give a company your money if you don't like what they do with it?
It's your money that's paying for their lawyers.
The EFF is just doing their job, as lawyers, to explain the worst case possibilities of this ruling.
You can bet your ass that Blizzard's lawyers, and EA's lawyers, and MS's lawyers, and Sun's lawyers, and IBM's lawyers, and probably even SCO's lawyers are reading up trying to figure out how they can best leverage this into their own products.
Next thing you know, your iPod will only work with iTunes.
Oh. Right...
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They come with the installation of software--after you've already paid for it.
The big problem most people have with EULA's is that they aren't presented at the time of purchase. I go to the store to buy a copy of Warcraft 3, I see no license agreement, I am presented with no conditions on my purchase, I pay for it. Contract concluded. Finito. I now have all the standard rights of the consumer to a copy of a copyright-protected work.
What makes you think Blizzard can then say, "Oh, and you have to agree to surrender some of those rights. Tough luck."
I've been following this for some time, and was always kind of appalled by how unjust the case is.
Basically, for those that don't know, bnetd was a daemon (!) that ran under Linux (maybe windows, I forget) that emulated Blizzard's Battlenet server. Blizzard sent out a C&D and took them to court under DMCA. Really, this is a whole lot like DVD Jon in some ways, because Vivendi is contending that the existence of bnetd promotes piracy because it does not enforce CD key checking. In reality, the motive was never to circumvent CD key checking - it was a workaround to allow LAN games over TCP/IP (vice IPX, bleh). The only way to work this is to emulate a battlenet server that everyone can log into locally.
IIRC, the bnetd team actually asked for Blizzard's help in making CD key authentication work (since the point of the project wasn't piracy) and Blizzard told them to go away. This clearly demonstrates a horrible misuse of the DMCA - basically the circumvention of the copyright protection was unintentional and in fact, undesired.
Hell, since I'm on the fence about who to vote for, if one of the candidates for president would say "Hey, I'm going to fix the DMCA mess!" I'd vote for him. Too bad that'll never happen.
If you want it to get better, you have to do something about it, not just sit on your ass and say "it will probably get even worse!"
How monumentally naive. Thousands of people have stood up to do something about the ridiculous drug laws in this country. NORML has been working for 30 years to repeal the marijuana laws. They have had no success at the federal level. Imagine spending half of your life to overturn ONE stupid law, and meeting with failure. Face it. The system is unresponsive to the needs or desires or will of the people.
You'll note that the only thing that you get when you purchase Warcraft III is a working CD. The manual can crumble to dust upon opening the package. The software can do absolutely nothing at all, or for that matter it can cause your monitor to explode and ruin both your eyes, and as long as the CD is good, then Blizzard owes you nothing. In the event that the CD doesn't work Blizzard can at their option send you a Tootsie Roll(TM) Blow-Pop and that's it. If this license is binding then Blizzard has the option of taking your $50 and giving you a blank CD. Seems like bullshit to me.
If you want to license your software instead of selling it, do it right. Require a signed (and countersigne) agreement up front. This is a pain in the ass and doesn't get you into retail stores, but thats your problem and you need to deal with it if your product is that sensitive and important. If you're going to sell retail, then you can treat your software just like a book with no problems.
On a side note - if someone has written or can provide me with a pointer to a "license agreement" that basically says there is no license, you're bound by copyright law alone, here's a summary of your rights and restrictions I would be grateful, because I'm lousy at writing that stuff myself.
"The big problem most people have with EULA's is that they aren't presented at the time of purchase. "
No the big problem is, people don't and can't be expected to enter into a contract (which is what an EULA purports to be) for a minor purchase for a few $$.
Realistically these densely worded contracts you would have to get professional advice in order to know your rights and loss of rights. You can't do that for every $40 purchase.
What's more is, its impractical to obtain that legal advice when your in a shop, even if you were presented with the contract just before purchase.
What I think you should do is this:
Write a letter saying that regardless of what the EULA says, you do not accept it, will not read it and are not entering into a contract with the publisher. If they don't like it, they can arrange to collect their software from you at a convienient time and give you a full refund.
Send the letter off to them, THEN INSTALL IT.
If they can impose terms after the sale on you, you can impose terms after the sale on them. If its reasonable for them to expect you to return to the shop at your expense, its reasonable for the shop to collect it from you at their expense (or the publishers).
Society, as a whole, doesn't give a fuck about fair use rights, perpetual copyrights, or click-through EULAs, either. Yet here we are.
Just because there isn't massive popular sentiment against what we here think of as an injustice doesn't mean it's not worth fighting against. You have to start somewhere.
But according to the EULA you're not buying the software, you're buying a license to use the software. Even if your original media is destroyed or unusable, your license is still valid. Either the software manufacturer owes you a free copy of the software (minus media and shipping costs), or you can use your backup. No effect on the market.