'Warcraft' maker sued for blocking sales of unofficial guide

Makers of the wildly popular "World of Warcraft" online game now face a lawsuit from an eBay seller who claims he was improperly barred from selling copies of his own unofficial gaming guide.

Filed Thursday in a California federal court, the complaint (click here for PDF) alleges that Blizzard Entertainment, its parent company Vivendi Universal, and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) were wrong to order eBay to terminate auctions of "The Ultimate World of Warcraft Leveling & Gold Guide," a book penned by 24-year-old Brian Kopp of Bronson, Fla.

The multiplayer online game of wizards, warriors and monsters has now attracted a following of 6 million subscribers worldwide since it debuted in 2004--among them, active virtual guilds.

During several months beginning last August, Kopp sold several hundred copies of his guide, which contains tips on playing the game and accumulating points, at roughly $15 apiece. Weeks after his first auction went live, Blizzard, Vivendi, and the ESA began sending repeated takedown notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), asking eBay to yank the auctions because of copyright and trademark infringement concerns. The auction giant's general policy is to halt auctions when it receives such complaints and to suspend a user's account after it racks up a certain number of warnings.

Kopp filed counternotices protesting the infringement claims. Because the companies did not respond to the documents within 14 days, eBay was free under the DMCA to reinstate his auctions, which it did. But by November, eBay had accumulated enough takedown warnings from the companies to warrant suspending Kopp's account. He restarted his sales under a new username, which quickly earned suspension, too.

The companies went on to threaten copyright and trademark infringement action against Kopp. In one message quoted in the complaint, a Blizzard executive said Kopp could not lawfully sell a guide that "attempts to trade off the substantial goodwill and recognition that Blizzard has built up in connection with its World of Warcraft product." He also dismissed Kopps' claims that his book was solely meant for "educational" value, saying it clearly had a commercial purpose.

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.

In effect, if the video game industry's actions are upheld, "then selling a how-to book about Microsoft Word would infringe Microsoft's copyright, especially if the book contained one or more screenshots of Word's user interface," said Paul Levy of the public-interest advocacy group Public Citizen, which joined in filing the suit on behalf of Kopp. "We think this cannot be the law."

The case points to a broader problem, Levy said: large companies that send takedown notices with abandon to eBay and jeopardize the prosperity of smaller sellers.

The suit seeks three major forms of relief: monetary compensation to cover, among other things, profits lost from the halted sales; an injunction preventing the entities from interfering with Kopp's book sales; and a judgment that his book is protected by the First Amendment and doesn't interfere with intellectual-property rights.

Kopp has continued to sell the product through a personal Web site and plans to continue doing so indefinitely, according to the complaint.

Representatives from Blizzard, Vivendi and the ESA did not immediately respond to interview requests Friday.

[JJWhitney]

Trying to protect the new guide for Expansion

Blizzard has a expansion of this game coming out soon and I am sure they don't want any competetion for that. Plus there is also the problem that fan based guids always tend to do a better and more complete job of how to actually play the game.

[zaznet]

Competition...

What you are talking about is competition, not illegal copyright infringement. It is pretty bad practice to file false claims against a competitor in order to disrupt their business practices.

[Gromit801]

How to Get Around a copyright issue...

Very simply, get written permission from the company who'se <br />copywritten material you plan to use! DUH!

[juser_bogus]

why?

Do you know the law? do you know what fair use is?

[Jackson Cracker]

It's "copyright"

Not "copywrite"

[markdoiron]

The Trouble With Copyright Owners

The trouble with many copyright owners, especially when it's a corporation, is the misunderstanding that copyright law is there to protect their right to squeeze every last penny from their original creative work, to include everything and form into which that work can be twisted. That's why a silly idea like protecting a work about how to play a game (or use any piece of software, FTM) proliferates. And it's why copyright owners think that they should have laws to secure copyright for decades past what our founding fathers had in mind. <br /><br />mark d.

[sel_barton]

However if you use their characters, their material (including the gear or quests) you are on copyright danger. You are using their material which is copyrighted.

[mwa423]

The bigger trouble with copyright owners

is that they can send DMCA notices willy nilly, and because of the threat of a lawsuit, isps/ebay/etc. just take down the content whether it is legal or not. I think that there should be a high monitary penalty for ever DMCA notice sent wrongly.

[wower]

how to farm wow gold easy?

<strike>wow gold</strike>

[Christopher Hall]

Umm, hey Tom?

Why did you link to your own topic thread?

[WJeansonne]

The Level of Greed and Stupity in Hollywood is Unbelievable!

Those clowns in Hollywood are simply out of control. Their level of greed and corruption is simply astounding, not to mention twisted politics. And how shortsighted to deny the publication of a book that promotes your product for free! Duhh!

[JJWhitney]

I am sorry:

I can't resist...<br /><br />"Those clowns in Hollywood are simply out of control."<br />They are in Irvine, CA not Hollywood.<br /><br />"Their level of greed and corruption is simply astounding," Greed? ok I will give that to you, corruption? I am not sure I see that.<br /><br />"not to mention twisted politics." Let me guess the trolls are actually commies.<br /><br />"And how shortsighted to deny the publication of a book that promotes your product for free! Duhh!" Duhh? they have 6 million users right now, are yout telling me that a non user will buy this game because they saw the fan made gameguide on ebay? You have got to be kidding me right? This is about leeching off one of the biggest videogame hits of all time, not a effort by fans to "promote it".<br /><br />95% of what you posted is just wrong, wierd or silly. The other 5% is at best debatable.

[k3lit0]

Actually, uh, no.

They aren't in Hollywood, they're in Irvine, and how would a manual on your game promote the game? The game promotes the manual. Fact of the matter is; the manual had words, names, pictures, maps, and information Blizzard invented. They drew the maps and art, they wrote the lore and they made the game. Publishing something like is would be like writting a book based on Star Wars and selling it- George Lucus would be pissed, right? They have every right, and whoever supports this idiot is probably just mad about Queues. If he wanted to 'distribute information about the game' why not post it on the Blizzard forums, or submit it to Allakhazam? He just wanted some money.

[dquiec]

Selfish

and stupid. I agree with the seller. Its like an unofficial biography. There are tons of that in bookstores everywhere and no one gets sued.<br /><br />Its different if the author unfairly blasts the subject. That can be brought to court.<br /><br />My two cents.

[markdoiron]

About Blasting the Subject

The "operative" word in your statement about "the author unfairly blasts the subject" is "unfairly". Reviews that are highly negative and critical of a given copyright work are specifically protected as "fair use". That means the reviewer does not need the permission of the copyright owner to use snippets of the copyrighted work to prove his point. This makes sense, because one would not expect that a copyright owner would give permission for a reviewer that provided a critical review (even if the owner didn't know in advance the review would be critical, revenge for denying later requests would always be a factor). <br /><br />So, back to "unfairly". Pretty tough word to define, legally. I would propose that your statement would be more correct to use words like "slanderous", "libelous" or even "factually incorrect". <br /><br />Bottom line: Highly negative reviews of copyrighted works are legal.<br /><br />mark d.

[DMH75]

Beware of Brian Kopp

Though I understand the point of the article and agree with most <br />of what is being said, I do have to say that Brian Kopp is guilty of <br />doing the same thing to others that he claims Blizzard and <br />Vivendi are doing to him. I had put an instruciton guide on <br />auction using eBay myself, only days later to see that Brian Kopp <br />had used the Vero system to have my guide taken down, <br />claiming that I had infringed on his copyright (it wasn't his in the <br />first place, at least if you agree with this article, it was <br />Blizzard's). I had made several attempts to discuss this further, <br />using eBay as a mediator, only to find that Brian Kopp was <br />dodging every email and remained unavailable. I waited a few <br />weeks and put my guide up for a second time. Again, it was <br />taken down and I was given Brian Kopp's email by eBay in order <br />to "hash" things out. Would you guess? Mr. Kopp again dodged <br />my emails. I have since given up on eBay as they were no help <br />when I explained to them that he was evasive and unavailable. It <br />was a very negative experience dealing with Mr. Kopp and I can <br />only guess that he has whats coming to him.

[TMB333]

That's Funny!

Actually, this puts a new light on the issue altogether. Originally, I sided with Kopp being the victim of a Greedy Corporation throwing their weight around, but this makes the matter more complex!<br /><br />First off, it seems that ANYONE?? can just ask eBay to obstruct some other seller's auction just by asking?? It would have been interesting to see what eBay would have done if YOU made the same claim about Kopp's book as he apparently did to yours!<br /><br />Secondly, if you can PROVE Kopp's actions against you, then you might be able to strengthen Blizzard's case to show that Kopp is doing exactly what he claims to be a victim of!<br /><br />People certainly do act strangely, all in the pursuit of the illustrious dollar bill!

[DMH75]

In addition...

I neglected to mention that Mr. Kopp had my eBay account <br />banned as well. I did however log on under a different ISP and <br />change all my personal information. Now, if I used eBay as my <br />sole form of income, as Brian Kopp claims he does, I wonder if <br />he'd have liked receiving a lawsuit in the mail?

[skozombie]

The solution is simple!

Support game companies that support their community. I'm building mine on this premise, but there are far more established companies that actually care about the people that buy their games.<br /><br />Stardock is by far the most gamer friendly company I've heard of. They don't use copy-protection, not because they want ppl to copy their game, but because it's not what gamers want.<br /><br />Support these sort of companies, not the companies that are too big to care what gamers want over their all important profits.

[wower]

Message has been deleted.

[justcommenting]

I wonder if Vivendi publishes how-to guides?

I imagine Vivendi's publishing arm has published quite a few how-to guides, it would be entertaining for this guy to post a list of them on his website!

[k3lit0]

YUP

they did, and they're on the blizzard store. :)

[J.G.]

Brian Kopp: Semiliterate con man?

The key to understanding what is going on with Brian Kopp is <br />that gold farmed in the game can then be sold, literally, to other <br />players for real money. The buyer then climbs the ladder in the <br />game without having earned his status. So, what Kopp's tip <br />sheet does is provide insider information on a form of cheating. <br />Blizzard would prefer that players play by the rules.<br /><br />Is it copyright infringement? Unclear. But, I think that Kopp is <br />damaging Blizzard's interest in its intellectual property. A game <br />in which cheaters rule is less attractive.<br /><br />I haven't seen the guide (book is much too respectful), but I did <br />visit Brian Kopp's site. The most notable aspects are:<br /><br />? He can barely read and write.<br /><br />? His goal is to make money. REAL money. The objective of <br />selling his product to gold farmers who will then resell the game <br />gold for REAL money is barely masked. There is nothing <br />"educational" about what Kopp is doing.

[setite]

yup

I have buddies who sell gold in that game and most of them are high school drop outs, although they manage to hide it well. It is truly genious to make money from selling infinitely renewable non-tangible goods such as onling gaming currency. Great for people who play games all day and don't have a real job/education. In reality I think Blizzard would be better off going after all the companies that sell gold rather than a guy selling a guide on how to get it.

[gravrdr]

why is he charging in the first place?

Kopp is a greedy dude. Most people post walk throughs for the love of the game and to help fellow players. Why would anyone want to 'buy' Kopp's manual when free advise is usually out there? What is the worls coming too?

[blakesheep]

Are you totally out of it!?

People have been making money off strategy guides for years. What perfect little world do you live in that people would spend months writing a guide and then not make money of it!<br /><br />Personally, I wouldn't want to use a guide that I didn't have to pay for - it would probably be a load of crap.<br /><br />And what's $15! It's not like it's going to break the bank.

[klamarre]

I do think you're missing the point

Although I agree with you that walkthroughs should be free, it <br />seems to me that there should be no law against Kopp or anyone <br />else selling something which doesn't violate any copyrights. <br />Frankly, I don't see what the big deal is from Blizzard's perspective <br />- they should want any and all guides to be made available.

[Chahk]

Why not charge?

He clearly spent a great deal of his own free time and resources (WoW subscribtion fee, for example) to put together a very extensive guide. It's only fair that he'd want to be compensated for his work.<br /><br />You say that all this information is freely available elsewhere on the web which is also true about any piece of software, and yet there are many "how-to" guides being sold in every bookstore. Are you saying that their authors are also "greedy" and should just give away that information?<br /><br />The authors are providing a service by collecting the information, organizing it, adding their own ideas to it, and finally publishing it so that you DON'T HAVE TO spend countless hours searching the web for it. If you are unwilling to pay a nominal fee for that convenience it's your choice, as nobody is forcing you to buy his guide. But if your only beef with the author is the fact that his guide is too expensive, perhaps it's you who are greedy.

[blakesheep]

Why bother with eBay

It's not illegal to sell gaming guides over the internet - hundred of people do it everyday and make a lot of money. Why does this guy bother with eBay!? <br /><br />He should just set up his own website and sell it off that - the bigwigs at WOW can't take that down.

[TMB333]

That's not the point.

Initially, lost sales might have been an issue for this guy. However, as the article states at the end, he already has a website and is already selling the book off of it.<br /><br />Somewhere along the way for this guy, it became a matter of principle that Greedy Corporations shouldn't be able to hamper small entrepeneurs just because they wave the DMCA (which by all accounts is a stupidly written Act) around. Furthermore, his book isn't even breaking copyright law (according to what I read in the article, I haven't read his book personally).<br /><br />I hope that he wins this case personally, because it can only further strengthen the fight against old copyright laws. As I'm sure that most everyone is already aware, the issue of copyright is NOT a small simple solution anymore, and the time needs to be taken to update ALL Copyright laws to conform to the present day situations.

[aneff01]

elfingo

A highly recommended site is elfingo.com for online auctions. They are the new ebay. Many smaller sites like this offer buyers far better deals than ebay ever could. Buyser also save a ton because this site charges little or nothing depending on the day. One more reaso I like elfingo.com is because they don't take a part of the sale at all. No commissions or final value fees. A+++ <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.elfingo.com" target="_newWindow">http://www.elfingo.com</a>

[romekie]

world of warcraft

A class action suit should b taken against warcraft maker to refund the money for game and at least 1 month of game play...it just simply does not deliver...it alway has problems....<br />Just rediculous

[Jim Harmon]

Fair use? NOT!!

Ok, now that I have your attention...<br /><br />Before the DMCA, there did exist a "fair use" provision that many people used to their advantage.<br /><br />However, then the DMCA was written the entire idea of fair use was specifically EXCLUDED. No such usage is allowed of digital media.<br /><br />The question remains, though... when does digital media become free to discuss? If no portion of a product contains any actual material copyrighted by others, can infringement occur?<br /><br />Personally, I believe the answer is No. However, the Supreme Court rarely consults me before reaching its decision. :)

Not quite. Fair use under the DMCA

The DMCA did not repeal fair use. Fair use is still encoded in Section 108 of copyright law. The DMCA did not specifically exclude fair use. The legislative history for the DMCA even mentions that fair use is supposed to still exist. The DMCA itself in section 1201(c)(1) states that nothing in the section modified by the DMCA affects rights, remedies, limitations or defenses to copyright infringement, including fair use. <br /><br />The problem is that their anti-circumvention provision gets in the way of fair use, and there is no good way to get around that. That being said, in this particular case this isn't an issue.

[rishidan]

Websites the Next Target?

You may have differing opinions about the value of Kopp's book but the first question that immediately springs to my mind is: <br /><br />&gt;&gt;&gt; What's to keep Allakhazam.com (or any other website) from being shut down should Vivendi / Blizzard / ESA win this lawsuit?<br /><br />Kopp?s claim that the book was meant for ?educational? value was dismissed by Blizzard because they feel that it is produced ?clearly (for) a commercial purpose?. Couldn't this argument can be used against websites too. This brings me to my second question:<br /><br />&gt;&gt;&gt; Based on the rather broad language used by Blizzard, how would a negative ruling for Kopp affect someone who authored an extremely popular World or Warcraft website and then collected money for ?Premium Content? (such as Allakhazam) or from banner ads?

[k3lit0]

You're jokin?

Allakhazam and Thottbot are free websites. The only services they offer for a fee are better servers, faster searches, etc. All the information is user-imported and free for all to view. Blizzard has every right to refuse somebody making profit off their game. This isn't even a lawsuit, it's a bad joke.

[critofur]

And then...

Here's what's coming next:<br /><br />Only "authorized" reviews of companies products will be allowed. Anyone posting a review which is not approved by the company, either on a website, or in a publication, will be sued for "copyright infringment", when is this coming, next year?

[critofur]

use of "artwork"

Using in-game screenshots for a how-to guide should be legally no different than using, say, pictures of a car engine to show a reader how to do some repair, or "before" and "after" pictures of a dirty car then a shiney car to show how effective your car cleaning products are.<br /><br />If we have to pay a "licensing fee" to Ford Motor Company before we could use pictures of engines from Ford cars to make our book, then, I say it's time to stop having corporations altogether because corporate greed is getting out of hand.<br /><br />Excessive greed seems to be the standard accross most all of corporate culture. It seems like Hollywood, and the RIAA seem to think that it's somehow their God given right to be paid more and more money each year, regardless of the quality of their product or the desires of their customers. We all know who Supreme Court Justics Alito would vote for in this case, every time I think of that (him) blight on what should be a great institution I get sick to my stomach. How can we undo the damage done by Imperator G.W. Bush? It will probably take decades.

[Medivh632]

Melandri Remus?

Any idea how this guys guide compares to Brian Kopp's?<br /><br />MelandriRemus.com