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Blizzard Sued By Game Guide Creator
Gamespot reports on a suit brought by a game guide creator against Warcraft-maker Blizzard Entertainment. The two parties will be going to court because of an attempt by Blizzard to quash a guide the plaintiff created for the World of Warcraft MMORPG. Offered electronically through eBay, the company claims that the guide creator is infringing on their IP. From the article: "Kopp's complaint argues that his book does not infringe on any of the companies' copyrights for several reasons: The book presents a disclaimer on its first page about its 'unauthorized' nature, contains no copyrighted text or storylines from the game, and makes "fair use" of selected screenshots under copyright law, the complaint said."
WTF is wrong with Blizzard? It seems they are always in court harassing their own user-base, which is a damn sight worse than the RIAA even, as the RIAA(well, supposedly) goes after actual pirates. Why not leave well enough alone?
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
If you went to Target and bought a bottle of Soda with the word 'Coke' on it, and it had coffee in it (actually, see Coke Blak, heh), or had a knockoff cola, you'd stop shopping at Target. Leave the quality control to the middle man between you and Coke -- that's their job to make sure you're happy.
But you wouldn't know which store is Target, either. Or visit some other place, you couldn't rely on the names at all to help you identify anything, you could go into Target and find a grocery store or a bar or a brothel. You wouldn't know which "Coke" they are selling until you try it, you could not carry over any previous experience with any product. All that just for some idea that "names should belong to noone".
If you can do a job cheaper, the market will prosper. I don't believe in derivative profits being forced by law -- I believe the market sets many precedents why people will buy the original over the knockoff (see "generic products" for details).
Problem is when you add media to the deal. With media the good sold is information, not the physical medium. But there would be no protection on the information and we have technology to duplicate the information without loss of quality. Concrete example: Take CDs. Data on a CD can take months or years and thousands or millions of dollars to produce but the actual medium only costs pennies these days. As you know, it's trivial to just take a CD and make an exact duplicate of it. A leech could sell tons of CDs for 1$ a piece by simply copying content he did not create. The original creator cannot offer any advantage to the buyer (except for the feeling of supporting the creator but few care about that) that the copiers cannot offer. So the creator would have to compete with the leeches on price directly but the leech has no development costs to cover. As a result the leech has a competitive advantage over the creator.
A market for data simply cannot exist without some restriction on just going out and copying it. And while you may argue that it's better to create art for the love of it instead of for money, you cannot deny that it would lower the productivity of artists simply because they would have to spend time they would spend on creating art on earning the money to live. Oh, and of course because they can't use the same budget current for-profit art uses. While some argue that Hollywood movies are unnecessary I still think that it would mean a loss of variety and artistic freedom. It's not like anyone's preventing you from making your own art in your free time, that possibility always remains. But without copyright the freedom to use expensive elements in your art would be greatly reduced, simply because you can't afford it.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
Which is why you need to sell more than the data on the CD. Sell the support, sell the add-on hardware, sell the live performance, sell the training, sell the installation, sell a follow-up newsletter. The time you spend making that CD is your labor -- don't put in your labor until you know how you can market the product in a world of competition and "piracy."
So if you had the idea and ability to create a product that could not give you these additional income sources (e.g. movies, music or videogames) you'd either not do it or intentionally cripple your product to require such additional services? That'd still kill off the largest part of the entertainment sector.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
You're interpreting copyright law wrong.
I think this is more about Blizzard's trademarks than their copyrights.
Attribution is irrelevant in this context.
Nonsense. It's a work of non-fiction. Attribution is not only relevant, it's required.
Is it for teaching purposes? Nope
Your list is quite flippant. The book is obviously both research and educational.
teaching purposes in this context is formal education systems, not self-help guides
Please point out the phrase "formal education system" in the law? Sounds like formal education system is a euphemism for "approved by the money people." And the little guy gets left out of the free market.
but his usage within the distrubted guide is not research.
So it's research until its published, then it becomes the property of the shareholders? Sorry. Neither copyright nor trademark law supports that. There's no infringement here.
All Blizzard did was ask Ebay to remove his guide
Based on an incorrect interpretation of trademark law. The entire issue should be dismissed. This is black letter fair use.
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
FYI, most of these game guides are created by taking information (even if it's outdated) from strategy sites like MultiplayerStrategies.com. I wrote a few guides for them (No, I wasn't paid, but they have paid writers on the staff) and those guides turned up in different places for free. (whatever).
Another one of their writers (mongoose) who is very popular for having leveled every class to 60, has had many of his guides stolen and resold on ebay, and on those annoying 1 page ad websites. The worst part is they resell guides that are months old, with tips that haven't worked for many patches (such as the zoning into and out of instances near maintanence to dupe items).
I was actually thinking about writing a new guide and selling it on ebay. Nice to see blizz is picking on the little guys again. tsk tsk.
Well, I'm a copyright and trademark attorney. And beyond merely having a J.D., which is the ordinary level of education held by lawyers, I got an LL.M. (a Master's) in IP. And copyright and trademark are what I practice in. I got into law because I became so interested in these fields (I used to be an artist), and my interest remains very high.
/. and I have seen other lawyers here from time to time. It's tough to know for sure how many, given that there are probably more lurkers than posters, but I would guess that I'm one of the most knowledgable people here with regard to this subject.
A lot of people use
But hey, if talking trash about me makes you feel like a big man, knock yourself out.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Very nice. Good for you. Now what makes you think that's an appropriate business model for all situations? And what gives you the right to force others to work that way?
Only three things are certain; death, taxes, and apocryphal quotations - Ben Franklin.
Let's say i'm a journalist, right? I can write an article on WoW, or give WoW tips and i won't get sued, right?
How about if i am the editor of the computer-games-related magazine, the above journalist works for : I won't get sued for selling the magazine containing said article, right?
And how about if i do a special issue? A WoW themed issue of the magazine, filled with WoW related articles? Do the various journalists working on the issue risk getting sued? How about the editor, is he getting sued?
How about if we do an extra issue? Let's say the magazine is published every month and i decide do do a special, WoW dedicated, 13th issue? Is Blizzard going to knock on the editor's door saying he can't publish his magazine?
How about if the magazine is big enough for it to be printed in paperback format, instead of the normal magazine format? Can't the editor of the above mentioned magazine change formats to reduce printing expenses? Or is it illegal?
How about if a journalist asks the editor to write a book about WoW? It might get him the pulitzer prize or whatever - should the editor comply? Will he be breaking the law? Will the journalist?
Can somebody point out to me where do we draw the line?