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Blizzard Folds on WoW Guide Suit
Agent writes "You may remember the suit that Brian Kopp brought against Blizzard, Vivendi and the ESA in March of this year. He sued due to wrongful takedowns under the DMCA of his ebay auctions. The case was settled today, allowing him to resell his guide on eBay and his personal site. The settlement helps more than just Kopp, as it sets a precedent for future interactions of this nature with game companies."
I'm glad they settled, but it doesn't make up for all the shit they put the bnetd guys through, or the fact that they constantly ignore what their user community wants, or the whole silly 'gay marriage' thing in WoW.
I'm afraid they're all just corporate asshats. It's sad, but I'd love to see a mass exodus of the creative people who brought us StarCraft to somewhere else, so that we could get some games that are worth playing.
But this is slashdot. A slashdoter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber!
I thought settlements avoided the issue of precedent?
Blizzard settled out of court. So there is no legal president set.
You can't goto a judge and say well in Blizzard vs. Knopp they settled so it's an open and shut case your honor.
Gadget News at Gizmo.com
Actually, I think its something to do with the new CSS.
;)
You cannot tell if an abbreviated article is in the mysterious future or not (normal articles have a red tint, and the abbreviated ones used to as well).
Either that or its just a crappy article
liqbase
Wrong! Only a court can set a legal precedent... Out of court settlements are just that, out of court agreements to "Not sue, if X, Y and Z terms are met." Common Law allows a judge / court to make decisions that have to be examined when the same (or similar) cases come before it or a lower court again, and thus how a precedent is formed.
You can't use this case to even defend against Blizzard themselves suing you unfortunately, let alone anyone else... If Blizzard had gone to court and lost then it would have set a new precedent for unofficial gaming guides, but you can't use an out-of-court settlement because for one thing the court often isn't even aware of the terms of that settlement.
Actually, this does not set precedent. There's no court ruling for other courts to reference, a private settlement is not a valid law.
This actually keeps other companies from having to allow this.
Settling a case does not create precedent. It may establish that Blizzard will fold on this specific issue, but it does not create any kind of binding precedent or persuasive precedent in any U.S. court of law.
"I do not regret the things I have done, but those that I did not do."
True, a settlement does not create a binding judicial precedent in the way that a judgment does. But if a firm offers a settlement to one party, then other parties are likely to demand the same settlement, and it would be a PR nightmare for the firm not to extend the offer to them.
I'm pretty certain all of the lead designers moved on a while ago.
Guild Wars is an ex-Blizzard thing, as is Hellgate: London.
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
What I'd like to know, is this guide any good?
A Freudian slip about President Bush's legitimacy? ;-) But seriously, assuming you meant "precedent", you're right in a strict sense, but here's why it doesn't matter as much as some may think:
But you can go to a journalist, who may be able to spin up the discrimination. Settling in the same way may be easier for a firm than denying a settlement and facing a PR nightmare.
And only a journalist can set a precedent in the court of public opinion.
Think outside the box. Even if you can't defend yourself in a court of law, you can still defend yourself by threatening to make the company's public relations a living h*ll.
If I was the Evil Overlord, Blizzard would be roasting over an open fire right about now.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
It actually doesn't rule the world?! Do citizens have actual rights too?! News at E'leven!
Thanks to eating disorders most chicks are reasonably good looking these days.
What I see is this guy capitalizing off Blizzard's work. I dislike that, but it is the way of the capitalist world in which we live.
It also sickens me that the guide is geared towards making money in WoW, supports (ads on the website) buying gold for real money and in general demeans the essence of the game. All of this leads to imbalances that once done cannot be undone. In short, this is all leading towards ruining the game.
I personally wish Blizzard would strongly enforce their Terms of Service agreement that states that all virtual property in World of Warcraft belongs to Blizzard and therefore cannot be sold.
Everyone from Blizzard bailed years ago. Some of them made Guild Wars for instance.
Wrong! Only a court can set a legal precedent... Out of court settlements are just that, out of court agreements to "Not sue, if X, Y and Z terms are met."
And just because a court decides in a certain way doesn't mean the precedent is legally binding.
It just means that it has been tried in court and chances are if the same incident (or similar) was tried in court again that it would receive the same verdict and judges often time use other cases to decide how to rule.
However... If the prior judge was insane, smoking crack, or just plain nuts and you made an appeal to another court and they said "Yeah... This guy is nuts... We don't know why he ruled that way... Case overturned!"
And even then... When you have juries involved you can get totally different outcomes at different trials so precedants are nothing but speculation on what would happen the next time it gets tried in court.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
my wife and I each have 3 lvl 60's and we have never paid real money for gold or items. all but one of our toons has an epic mount and I will be getting his soon.