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Blizzard Won't Stop World of StarCraft Mod

Posted by Soulskill on from the uncrossing-wires dept.

On Wednesday we discussed news of an impressive-looking mod for StarCraft II that transformed the game into a WoW lookalike, which quickly drew a copyright infringement warning from Activision Blizzard. The company has now released an official statement green-lighting the mod for continued development. "'It was never our intention to stop development on the mod or discourage the community from expressing their creativity through the StarCraft II editor,' Blizzard said in a statement. 'As always, we actively encourage development of custom maps and mods for StarCraft II, as we've done with our strategy games in the past.' Blizzard went on the say that it's looking forward to seeing development of the mod continue, and that it has invited Winzen to the company's campus to meet the game's development team."

20 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. So basically... by Kokuyo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Blizzard first gets you intimidated by their figurative muscle, before the Don walks up to you, making you an offer you can't refuse?

    1. Re:So basically... by MartijnL · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Blizzard first gets you intimidated by their figurative muscle, before the Don walks up to you, making you an offer you can't refuse?

      Basically Activision Legal fires off the first shot before people with real brains realize the potential for something like this. The people with the brains probably did not know this existed before the C&D became news.

      --
      http://virtualize.wordpress.com/
    2. Re:So basically... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Still wrong. The C&D was only ever over trademark issues, not over the mod itself. Which should be bloody obvious if anyone on the internet would stop long enough to read or think things through before making up conclusions.

    3. Re:So basically... by MartijnL · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Doing your due diligence as an attorney could also mean backchecking this with Blizzard first and *then* firing off the C&D if it is still wanted. I'm sure Legal would have the means to check this quickly with someone like Pardo or Metzen or even Morhaime.

      --
      http://virtualize.wordpress.com/
    4. Re:So basically... by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think more than being concerned about the game mod per se, they were really mostly concerned about a semi-viable product using Starcraft in its name. In other words, more trademark concerns than copyright.

    5. Re:So basically... by PhrstBrn · · Score: 2

      Given that these lawyers probably send out thousands of C&D letters every week, I doubt the lawyers are required to check anything with Blizzard before sending a C&D. They are probably given a profile and just send out C&Ds to every game and mod that fit the profile.

      If they checked everything first it would take several times the manpower to verify every claim, and when in doubt, it's easier to just retract a C&D later rather than fact check everything beforehand.

    6. Re:So basically... by pelrun · · Score: 4, Informative

      Except when you send out a C&D that gets your law firm fired...

      Seriously, a little due diligence goes a long way here.

    7. Re:So basically... by PhrstBrn · · Score: 2

      Except when you send out a C&D that gets your law firm fired...

      Seriously, a little due diligence goes a long way here.

      You can't be serious.... right? You're comparing a law firm who sends C&D over a phrase which is clearly not a proper noun (as it wasn't capitalized), nor was referring to their client in the context, to a law firm who sends a C&D about game mod, which has a similar name to two of their client's existing IPs (and is a clear play on words of both IPs), uses the assets from one IP, and is trying to copy the other IP? Blizzard has more than plenty legal justification to send a C&D.

      Some "due diligence" could have been done on the behalf of the mod's author. He could have called his mod "Secrets of the Lost Widgets" (or more likely something more creative) that didn't use Blizzard's characters or IP (only using the ingame assets which he is allowed to use as per the Map Editor license) and avoided the hammer altogether.

    8. Re:So basically... by dintech · · Score: 2

      These days, any externally facing facet of your organisation can be part of its PR. If you have lawyers acting for your company, your lawyers become your PR. That's dangerous. I hope they learned a lesson here.

    9. Re:So basically... by somersault · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is not a tarnish on the guy's career. This is a major advertising event which could potentially get him noticed and get him a great job and a big gaming studio.

      How you can compare one polite warning (not even a charge) - quickly retracted no less - to shooting someone or putting them in prison, I don't know.

      --
      which is totally what she said
    10. Re:So basically... by somersault · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think more than being concerned about the game mod per se, they were really mostly concerned about a semi-viable product using Starcraft in its name.

      Yeah, a Starcraft mod with Starcraft in the name is a dangerous thing that should be stricken down with no mercy.

      Seems it's more the "World of" bit that's the issue here.

      --
      which is totally what she said
    11. Re:So basically... by IndustrialComplex · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is not a Chinese company selling pirated copies or anything, but a community member using Blizzard tools to create content. How that would ever warrant a C&D is beyond me and I have a hard time believing their legal monkeys don't know that difference.

      Trademarks must be vigorously defended in the United States or you risk losing them. Not copyright, copyright you retain regardless of your desire to use it.

      In this way, Trademarks are actually a bit more sane as they require the company to invest a little bit of effort and time in order to maintain them. Let it sit on a shelf, or be neglectful and you lose your right to it if someone else starts extracting some value from the item. It is this way because you can Trademark some seemingly generic terms and keeps people from just trademarking everything in the dictionary (for what, $200 registration?) and then suing everyone.

      So, back to Activision.

      They own trademarks on Starcraft, and World of Warcraft. Someone comes along and makes a game called World of Starcraft. A mashup of two trademarks which is built on products sold by the company that owns the aforementioned trademarks.

      It is incredibly easy to imagine that if a person were to come across this mod or its website that someone would consider the connection between the brand Starcraft, and the brand Warcraft. In fact, that WAS the literal intention of the creator of this mod. His goal in choosing the name was to link Starcraft, and World of Warcraft.

      So, in this legal system where you have to vigorously defend your trademark or lose it. You have someone which clearly used two trademarked names in the promotion of his product. If the lawyers DIDN'T respond to this they wouldn't be doing their jobs.

      Now, perhaps they could have been a bit more clear in their C&D, but that would open them up to liability. How you ask? What if they said:

      "Stop using these trademarked terms until you get permission to use them"

      A hell of a lot nicer yes? Except that it could imply that they might be granted permission. If they go through the hassle of trying to request permission, only to find that there is some policy in place that prohibits granting permission to use the trademarks to entities such as themselves then they may have grounds, however slim, to suggest that Activision was simply dicking them around and wasting their time/money. Waste someone's time and money like that and you have the potential for a lawsuit.

      So, A Cease and Desist letter is a perfectly reasonable thing to expect when using trademarks in an unauthorized fashion.

      Had they called their mod "Our New MMO" and they received a Cease and Desist, I'd consider it outrageous, but as it is, they should have expected one.

      --
      Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
  2. Mixed messages by senorpoco · · Score: 5, Funny

    I know that I always preface an invitation to dinner with a petty lawsuit. It gives us something to talk about if the conversation runs dry.

  3. Re:Kick them in the ding ding by Xveers · · Score: 2

    No, their first priority is protection of their own IP which they must defend vigorously. Any unofficial "blessing" or slack with that takedown can be used as a chink in their case to retain the IP at a later legal engagement. Rather unlikely, but the law is not filled with many absolute certainties.

    I'm certain that the first comment from Blizzard (and not their lawyers) to him was "We apologize for the takedown, but we have to cover our bases. Now, please tell us more about your project. We're a bit curious..." Once actual intent is discovered and identified, I'm willing to bet that they've extended a formal notice of approval to allow him to continue work, and posting videos in the future. Mark my words, in a few days that video will be back up on youtube.

  4. Full Statement by pgn674 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here is the full statement from Blizzard: www.GameInformer.com - Blizzard Responds To World Of StarCraft Mod

  5. Bad strategy by guyminuslife · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Okay, this is very simple. Blizzard, your process is messed up. If you're looking at mods as being possibly infringing, you should have a customer liason to handle that. Hell, someone whose job description is working with the modder community. When dealing with competing companies, legal notices are routine. When you're dealing with your own loyal customers, and they happen to be stepping on your toes, the first people they hear from should not be your lawyers.

    Sample response:

    "Hey, this is Anaximander from the Starcraft II community support team at Blizzard. I saw your video on YouTube for the mod you're calling World of Starcraft. It looks pretty sweet, I've been showing it around the office. Great job, guys, can't wait to play it.

    Unfortunately, there's a problem with the name you're using. Essentially, while the mod itself is fine, we don't want other people using the name World of Starcraft. (Can't speak on whether we're working on one of our own.) We'd like to ask that you change the name of your mod before continuing to distribute it. We're also asking that you remove the current YouTube video that advertises under the name World of Starcraft, until you guys can get it changed to something else. (I'd suggest something, but I'm terrible at picking names.)

    Please understand that we value the work that you've done, and that we think mods like yours are one of the best things about things about the Starcraft II community. We'd like to work with the community, which is why you're hearing from me right now instead of our lawyers.

    If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at: anaximander@blizzard.com"

    If they're blatantly infringing on your trademarks and saying, "neener neener neener," or if they're dragging their heels, then a formal C&D is in order. But it seems like if Blizzard had gone through that process, this wouldn't be a story at all.

    --
    I don't believe in time. It's a grand conspiracy designed to sell watches.
    1. Re:Bad strategy by thesandtiger · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Except it's cheaper and possibly even better in the long run for their reputation to do things the quick and easy way and then fix their mistakes.

      Fire out the C&D letters without spending time & money to investigate - cheap. If one of the C&Ds generates a bit of bad PR, THEN quickly move to respond, showing that you listen, can admit mistakes, and fix 'em. Look at this thread - everyone's pointing out that it was probably the legal department that screwed up and giving kudos to Blizzard's dev team for making things good. Overall that's a huge net win for the entire organization: the lawyers look bad (who cares?) while the people who make the content look great.

      --
      Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
    2. Re:Bad strategy by argStyopa · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well, the problem is that when you start to talk about issues like this, the people you're getting advice from have a vested interest in the answer.

      Basically, lawyers have every selfish reason to counsel against civility and reasonableness.

      Most likely someone waved this 'cool new mod they heard about' in front of the CEO.
      CEO said that IS cool, but isn't the name a little close - if we don't defend it, we lose the ability to defend it later.
      (Calls the company lawyer for advice)
      Lawyer: oh you can't accept that (paints horrific gloom and doom scenario where this mod ends up with the world tearing Blizzard to shreds), CEO thinking of his own fat paycheck reluctantly asks someone to please just take care of it.
      Lawyer, who knows he gets billable hours for every second he spends drafting the letter, agrees.
      *for purposes of illustration we're assuming everyone here is basically decent and not a cynical greedy pig; well, except the lawyer because that would just be totally unbelievable.

      --
      -Styopa
    3. Re:Bad strategy by C0R1D4N · · Score: 2

      I guarantee it costs a lot more for those lawyers to 'draft up a C&D' (despite them probably being rather generic templates with form fields) then it does to hire on one of your volunteer guides or promote a CSR guy to working with the mod community for a whopping 30k/year

  6. Re:what does the mod do...i still dont know by Shados · · Score: 4, Informative

    Starcraft 2 mods are really modules made with the map editor. It is, however, very powerful, and without any form of external game modification or hack, you can make entire games that have little to nothing to do with the original RTS game.

    In this case, it was basically a small scale MMORPG-like game based on the starcraft universe, heavily influenced by the WoW mechanics.