Blizzard/Vivendi Countersue WowGlider ‘bot Creator

Case Management Summary (March 27, 2007)
Text of Blizzard’s/Vivendi’s Answer & Counterclaim (Feb 16, 2007)
Text of MDY’s (Donnelly’s) Complaint (Oct 25, 2006)

Michael Donnelly created a ‘bot’ program called WowGlider (since renamed to simply “Glider” in response to Blizzard’s trademark complaints) that allows players of the wildly popular World of Warcraft (”WOW”) MMORPG to automate their game play and keep their character “playing” 24/7.

Using this bot the player can continue to level up and harvest gold 24/7 without actually having to play the game - an activity widely considered to be cheating. The use of such “bots” circumvent Blizzard’s security/anti-cheating measures and are prohibited by WOW’s EULA and terms of use.

In the fall of 2006 Blizzard (and its parent Vivendi) demanded Donnelly cease selling the bot. In response, On October 25, 2006 Donnelly’s company MDY filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court of Arizona seeking a Declaratory Judgment that it is not infringing any rights, copyright or otherwise owned by Blizzard and Vivendi.

Blizzard and Vivendi have now answered Donnelly’s complaint and filed a countersuit. Blizard summarizes the case as follows:

Donnelly is an individual responsible for the development and sale of “WoWGlider,” a software program that enables users to circumvent Blizzard’s security measures and infringe Blizzard’s intellectual property rights in its World of Warcraft® (“WoW”) software. WoWGlider’s unauthorized code then enables its users to cheat fellow players by completing in-game tasks and building characters with little or no human participation, thereby giving WoWGlider users significant unfair and contractually prohibited advantages over legitimate players. Via the website wowglider.com, MDY actively markets and promotes WoWGlider with knowledge that they are encouraging and enabling WoWGlider users to breach their contracts with Blizzard. MDY’s actions have unjustly profited Michael Donnelly while negatively impacting the experience of millions of legitimate WoW gamers and causing significant damage to Blizzard. The acts of MDY, described in more detail below, constitute tortious interference with the contracts between Blizzard and WoW users; contributory and vicarious infringement of registered copyrights in violation of the Copyright Act, as amended, 17 U.S.C. § 501; trafficking in technology designed for the purpose of circumventing copyright protection systems in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, as amended, 17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(2) and (b)(1); trademark infringement in violation of Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act; and unfair competition and unjust enrichment under the laws of the State of Arizona.

The countersuit contains the following seven counts/allegations:

1. Tortious Interference with Contract
2. Contributory Copyright Infringement
3. Vicarious Copyright Infringement
4. Violation of the DMCA
5. Trademark Infringement
6. Unfair Competition
7. Unjust Enrichment

Blizzard/Vivendi are seeking the following relief/court orders (amoung others):

1. preliminary and permanent injunctions enjoying MDY/Donnelly from: (i) infringing its copyrights; (ii) violating its anti-circumvention systems; and (iii) encouraging others to violate its EULA;
2. shutting down the WoWGlider.com website, assignment of the domain to Blizzard
3. ceasing further development, sale and distribution of WoWGlider
4. an accounting of all sales and monetary damages payment

Sources: Gamasutra | GamePolitics.com | Wow Insider | Tera Nova | The Forge | Markee Dragon| Glider’s Legal Forum | Glider FAQ

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