Blizzard officially files against WoW Glider

Blizzard and Vivendi ( www.blizzard.com ) today filed against MDY Industries ( www.wowglider.com ) and Michael Donnelly in the state of Arizona USA. Blizzard is seeking injunctive relief and money damages against MDY. What that means is they want him to stop the production of WoW Glider and they want him to pay them damages. Blizzard believes that Glider infringes on their intellectual property. They believe Glider allows players to cheat, giving them an unfair advantage and that they believe Glider encourages Blizzard customers to breach their contracts for playing the game. Last they claim that Glider is designed to circumvent copyright protections.

Now let me give a little opinion. First off I am not an expert in the law. Blizzard wants money from Glider because they don't like it. ok. I can understand that. They want Michael / MDY to stop selling glider. I can understand this also.

Blizzard believes that Glider allows players to cheat. Having used Glider myself I would have to say that it is not really a cheat program. It does not allow you to dupe items or create things out of thin air. It does not do anything a real player can do with one exception. It does allow the character to be played 24x7. Humans can't do that. Groups of people could do this though. There are many farm companies that offer powerleveling services that will run your character 24x7. There is not much difference between the two of these. Both of them level up your character as fast as possible. They both can farm for you as well.

They claim that Glider encourages WoW players to break their contract with Blizzard. I don't know if that's really an issue. It's customer choice. It just like my brand new car that I want to add a wing to the back. I can buy the wing many different places. I want to do it because I think it will look cool. It's certainly not illegal to add it to my car. But it may in fact void the warranty of the car in respect to the trunk where it is mounted. It's my choice to do this. I am willing to accept the risk of voiding my warranty. I should be able to do this if I want to. Should the auto maker sue the wing manufacturer? I guess they can. But I still want to install it and so I do. There is nothing that the auto maker can do about this.

Lets change the example a little bit. Lets say that I do not own the car. I am leasing it. I install the wing. The leasing company gets all pissed off about this. They take the car away from me and they bill me for repairs to the trunk. I would say they have the right to do that. Now lets talk about playing WoW. If I want to play WoW and add Glider (My wing) to the game. Blizzard has every right to close my account. They in fact have closed my account before for running Glider. Do they have the right to bill me? Well I don't think the TOS currently has anything in it about billing me for damages to the game. But they could add that. Should they be able to bill Glider the "wing manufacturer" for making a product that I want to use with WoW "the car". I'm not thinking that they should be able to. But like I said. I am no expert in the law. We will have to see what the experts say on this.

Some interesting facts that Blizzard states for background in the case. They claim to have 11 million players of their online games. They state that WoW has over 8 million players. They claim to have made use of the terms "World of Warcraft" and "WoW" as trademarks. They claim that WoW is under constant attack by cheaters, scammers, and other wrongdoers seeking to exploit the game. They state that players must agree to the ELUA to install and to play WoW. They state that if you use the client in any way other than it was intended it is a violation. They state that Warden is designed to stop anyone from violating the ELUA with 3rd party programs.

11 million players is pretty impressive. 8 million players for WoW is very impressive!

WoW as a trademark. The term "wow" is actually trademarked to CompuServe. Blizzard is claiming some right to this because they have been using it. If they can claim it. the answer may be simple. Change WoW Glider to "War Glider" or "Craft Glider". Heck, they could just start calling it "The bot". That way it's not infringing on the trademark nor devaluating it.

The claim that WoW is under attack. Well this is nothing new. I wonder if the judge will know that. I doubt he's a hard core MMOG player. I wonder how this matters. Going back to the car analogy. Bugs keep hitting my windshield. It's under constant attack! So I buy a bug shield. Warden is Blizzards bug shield. My bug shield deflects most of the bugs. But it does not deflect the occasional rock or bird. It's great they built Warden to protect the game. Does that matter though? It shows they have taken actions to protect the game. But are you going to sue the rock or bird that hits your windshield? lol

They state that players must agree to the ELUA. This is no different than you agreeing to the lease on your car. Violate it and they take it away. Blizzard just needs to ban the botters!

Blizzard is claiming that MDY operated www.wowglider.com and that the activities there are unlawful. They state that Glider is $25 and that MDY has sold over 25,000 copies. (The math is $625,000). Blizzard claims that they have lost revenue due to banning players for using Glider. They claim that MDY designed Glider to avoid detection. They claim that Glider bypasses Warden. They claim that Glider allows players to run their character unattended.

Most of these statements are just setting up for what they claim are the illegal activities. They claim that MDY operates the Glider site. Yes I think we can all agree on that.

They state that they think MDY has made $625,000 from selling copies of Glider. I would say that Mike has done well for himself.

Now this one gets me. Blizzard claims that have a loss in revenue because of banning players. I say this is bull! They have made more because of this. Hell. I've had about 25 accounts banned. Now I would say that I'm the exception. But most of the botters I know use their bot accounts as secondary accounts. they have their main account that they play 100% clean. Then they have these second bot accounts. If the account gets banned they just fire up another and continue on. I don't have stats on this. But having been very active in the WoW bot community this is my personal experience. For those of you that wonder how I could get 25 accounts banned you could look at my site www.wowbot.com . I don't have an active bot running there at the moment. But you can see highlights of previous bots. When you really push the limits and try a lot of crazy stuff you get banned a bit. I would be interested to hear from other botters on this. Did you quit the game altogether when you got banned? Or did you fire up another account and continue on?

Do bot piss off other players? Yes I think so. But I think that the number of people quitting because of bots would be very hard to prove. Blizzard should do an exit poll for when people close their accounts. Maybe they already do. I don't know. All of my accounts have always been closed for me. lol

Blizzard claims that Glider bypasses Warden., Holy Cow! Mike you did it! Blizzard admits that they can no stop Glider! Guess they would have already stopped it if they could have. Since Glider just does mouse movements and keyboard strokes. It looks very human.

Blizzard claims that Glider allows players to play unattended. Well duh!

Count 1: Tortious Interference with Contract. This count is that MDY encourages players to break the ELUA. MDY could encourage people to pick their nose. That's not good to do in public. But is that something you should sue for? I don't really know if they have a case with this part.

Count 2: Contributory Copyright Infringement. Blizzard is claiming that when Glider launches WoW and bypasses Warden that Glider has just reproduced a copy of WoW and thus has violated the copyright. WoW. That's a pretty interesting statement. Is that kinda like me using my TiVo to record a show and watch it and being told I've just violated the copyright of the show? I'm not sure if that is a good analogy or not. But it's the first thing I think of. If I were charing copies of the program I TiVoed then ya. that would be an issue. But watching it myself. I don't think so.

Also under count 2. Blizzard claims that they knew they were violating copyright because they sold keys for Glider. Huh? How does selling keys for an application that you built show that you intentionally violated copyright in another program? This is a stretch.

Count 3: Vicarious Copyright Infringement. This is claiming that because MDY can shut off a glider key at any time that they again know they are violating copyright. This is bull. The keys are to keep people from pirating the application. Blizzard also asks for money in count 3. They do not state an amount though.

Count [censored] that Glider bypasses Warden and that they can not stop it. So they ask for the court to force MDY to stop operations. I could see the court halting operation of the application while the case goes to trial. I give this 50/50. Not because I think that MDY is violating any laws. But because a judge may very well not understand how all of this stuff works and because of lack of knowledge may play it safe. In my opinion that would be unfortunate. I see it as a possibility.

Count 5: Trademark Infringement: Blizzard objects to WoW Gliders use of the term "WoW". I'm pretty sure CompuServe still has the term Trademarked. Again. Just change the name of the product.

Count 6: Unfair Competition. Lol. this one is good. Blizzard is claiming that MDY does not do honest business. I'm not sure what to say about that.

Count 7: Unjust Enrichment. Blizzard wants the funds MDY has earned by the sale of WoW Glider.

Prayer for Relief: Blizzard wants www.wowglider.com shut down. They also want all sites that are affiliates, partners dealers and so on to shut down operations dealing with Glider. That would be us here. We have a page here: http://www.markeedragon.com/buy-sell/world-of-warcraft-bot-wow-glider/ and we also have the sites www.warcraftbot.com and http://warcraftbot.blogspot.com . We would of course shut those pages and sites down if the court ordered. We are not interested in breaking any laws. I feel that we have not broken any by linking to Glider and giving testimonials about it's use. If the court orders it though we will. I have a great respect for the law. Even if I don't agree with it.

Blizzard is also seeking to take ownership of the domain www.wowglider.com

Blizzard seeks a restraining order against Mr. Donnelly from selling Glider. They also ask for the source code for Glider and all of his copies of WoW.

Last. They ask for money again from MDY. They also ask for attorney's fees.

This was submitted to the court today February 16th 2007. Here is a link to the documents. It's about 100 pages worth. http://www.wowglider.com/Legal/Feb%5F16%5F2007/

It will be interesting to see what happens next. I talk with Mike quite often. He has the funds to fight this. It looks right now like he will. He's a smart guy though and would settle if the right agreement presented it's self. Take their chances they will. I believe that Mike has an excellent good chance of winning this. If he does it would open the flood gates of 3rd party applications for all games. Application developers would take this as an open invitation since they know that if they do it the same way as Glider did they could not be stopped. I think Blizzard should have accepted the offer. Instead they choose to make an example and they are in my opinion doing it on a less than 50% chance of winning.

It's up to the court now.

blizzard is just mad that other people are making profit off of their game and they are missing out on it

Wait, isnt most of blizzard's case assumptions? You bring facts..you win the case, blizzard was making assumptions and manipulating their own EULA.

I think you guys are missing an important point: we are licensing the game from Blizzard. Some folks may say they own their accounts and everything on the account. In all honesty, you don't. You are paying a fee for the right and privilige of playing the game. Basically, you are leasing the account from Blizzard. It's like the car example you gave. You can drive the car wherever and however often you want within certain restrictions. If you break those restrictions you are subject penalties (fines, etc.). If you break the TOS / EULA while playing WoW you suffer the penalties in cancelled accounts or possible lawsuits if it's serious enough.

The fact of the matter is unattended game play is a pretty standard violation of the TOS/EULA of most games (remember when UO bots got people banned??). People have always gotten smacked for those types of violations. Why is it a surprise that Blizzard is going after someone that creates a program that breaks the TOS/EULA? And then sells it to others so they can also break the TOS? Pretty easy to understand why Blizzard would want to sue.

Your arguement comes from the viewpoint of someone that uses illegal (according to the TOS/EULA) methods to play the game and have been banned numerous times. How is your points unbiased or even valid? Don't think I am attacking you personally, I just think your arguements are moot and are baseless. You broke the terms of agreement and have paid the price. Same with this WoWGlider. Play with the big boys, get hurt. Nuff said.

Hasta.

BTW: Nieves is offical Markee Dragon crew. Careful who you spit on.

His name is in light blue,

for this...

/spit

Wall of Text crits you for 3054396539


Anyhow nicely written, worth the read =D.

I bet after they sue him, shut down his website and get the source code for Glider they will then re-release it under a new name and sell it...

Okay, I'm not a lawyer (not yet, anyway), but maybe someone can clarify something for me...

The document Markee links to on wowglider's site is an Answer and Counterclaim BY BLIZZARD..... meaning they are replying to a suit filed by WOWGLIDER! The link doesn't host the original complaint, so I can't tell what exactly Blizzard is responding to, but it doesn't look like Wowglider is exactly innocent in this.

Could wowglider have been suing to keep Blizzard from blocking/detecting their software?

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Hope this helps..

Well [censored]. I guess I should've read the actual reference as opposed to opening my mouth . Of course, that doesn't change my opinion. In fact, it strengthens it. So wowGlider is suing so that Blizzard can be allowed to sell their illegal (per the Blizzard EULA/ToS) software so players can continue to cheat? Er...I have 3 thoughts on this:

1) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

2) You should've taken the money you DID make and called it a day. Now you are spending money on a lawyer and a law suit you will probably lose all because you want to make a few more bucks? Dude. Big risk.

3) I liken this to someone suing to make the car dealer allow you to change the engine on a LEASED vehicle.

Too funny.

Hasta.

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Refference
Hope this helps..

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Ya, that clarifies a great deal! Far more than just asking for a jury trial, though, MDY is asking for an injunction and damages related to the case, and I'm not quite sure how that will play out.

A declaratory judgment saying that MDY is not infringing Blizzard's property is perfectly fine, though given Blizzard's reply it sounds like it's going to get sorted out by the end of this action anyway. Given that Blizzard has only really threatened him with legal action (and now taken it), I think MDY may have tough time proving irreparable damage that has taken place (other than Blizzard enforcing its own EULA).

If Blizzard is able to prove its infringement claims against MDY, the tables will have turned significantly, and an injunction WOULD be appropriate there, since Blizzard wouldn't be able to stop MDY from continuing to sell wowglider without one. However, what irreparable damage has Blizzard done to MDY (as said in paragraph 16 of MDY's complaint)? Blizz DOES own the WoW world and can set and enforce its own EULA within its legal limits, and that includes banning players that refuse to play by its rules. MDY would never succeed in getting a judgment that forces Blizzard to let wowglider users continue unimpeded. The best I think they could hope for would be a judgment saying they can continue to sell wowglider, but that players still use it w/r/t WoW at their own risk.

That said, there's going to be a lot of scrutiny into how MDY created and maintains wowglider, and to the extent it involves reverse engineering WoW and Warden code, MDY may be in hot water. I think Blizzard has the better case here for relief, since wowglider does let players do things in Blizzard's game that they specifically do not want, whereas wowglider admittedly goes around Blizzard's safeguards and alters the experience in Blizzard's game for both MDY's customers and other paying subscribers. I'm not sure how Blizzard could prove a dollar amount to that, though.

I personally think Blizzard should be able to use whatever it can to detect and ban people who use products in conjunction with their game that they don't like, but it's a very different beast to say MDY can't even sell it (EULA != law).

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The outcomes are pretty much reasonable in terms of what happens if MDY wins vs if they lose.
If they lose, everyone will be botting with 3rd party programs who are benefitting from the core program/game of which they contribute no income or maintenance. If they lose, MMO's will likely go into the market of Buy from Us the game creators instead of botting. Which is already a current trend, a good one and bad one but convienant.
If they win, the laws will likely use the case as a theory of arguement against all those who dare to infringe on copyrighted programs in the future.
I prefer that MDY win in the case that WoW glider has $0 contributions to a program in which is its core selling point. MDY is likely to win if they focus on developement costs, maintenance costs, future developement costs and infringement of copyrights. WoW glider is probably going to lose in the case that it is a $0 contributer to the software rights and it is a program based on copyright infringement. The fact that profit is made off a 3rd party program which contributed nothing to the core program would put it into the category of federal violations based on regulations of piracy.

Both sides have a difficult task.

I would have stopped using WoWGlider entirely since this released. (if I have it you will never know)
I saw that Blizzard wanted customer information in the document. Not sure what the plans are with that information, but I can't see any good coming from it.

Good luck to WoW Glider!

Cant wait to see how this plays out, even though i dont glide.

i honestly think blizzard should sue them. it ruins the game for the rest of us by having bots run around farming mats and killing mobs that we real players need.

blizzard actually makes more money from people using glider.
When blizzard bans a account because it was used for botting,
the person botting will just go out and buy another account.

I can't believe they haven't just bought Merc out. Although I guess that would open the door for every programmer skilled enough to make such a program.


If you read the countersuit (or w/e it is called) for summary judgement, both sides have very valid points. This is a precedent setting case in any regard and will have a ripple effect on many different aspects of gaming. Alot of the "shrink wrapped contracts" have allready been found to not really be a legal document, that being so, Merc didn't violate anything. No laws were broken, his software is not hurting anyone or doing anything that you couldn't do on your own with enough time and the desire to do so. He doesn't stand to lose much either. I'm sure as a corporation he can file bankruptcy and if he has paid himself and his employees out just move on. Blizzard on the other hand stands to lose alot if it is found that warden violates some privacy laws or something of that nature and gets taken out. In my head that happening with really mess with the economy of WOW and pretty much give free reign for anyone to bot. Although, come to think of it, I have been botting alot of accounts for quite some time, and I have yet to come into contact with Warden first hand.......Who knows, this is an interesting case to follow though, and it will set a precedent. (And will most likely be summarily appealed no matter who wins).

Well stated by teh chad

if glider wasnt their i wouldnt even play this [censored] game lol it takes to long to lvl self at 70

glider wil win because they not do that and i think if glider was nog there many people quitted the game. it take to mutch time to reach 70 by hand.

I don't understand why Blizz cares so much in the first place. Honestly how much money do they need, 2 words MONEY COW, and everyone knows it. BLIZZ should stop whining about about there $625,000 "Lose" from this program. they make what, about $13500000 a month + the $40 per person that buys the damn game, so thats a $3600000000 they made just off selling the CD's to install! Is that $625,000 "Lose" really that big of a deal, i mean come on its just rediculous law suit. Over all this entire thing is a waste of time for blizz because they arnt getting anything out of this. In the time that this entire Law suit has been going on they have probably made well of 30x the $620,000.

K3RRL45

if glider loses blizz will lose so much business they will be crying for years...

hahahahahahah epic
so they would sue themselves after they release it?

Couldn't have said it better myself