Blizzard sued for stopping sale of unofficial WoW guidebook

 

 You always see it the other way around, yet in this case, Blizzard actually got whacked for applying their – already controversial – MMORPG policies.

The whole affair started when Brian Kopp, a 24-year-old resident of Bronson, who wrote his own guide to WoW, “The Ultimate World of Warcraft Leveling & Gold Guide”, got his account suspended there after Blizzard, Vivendi and the ESA forced eBay to take the auctions where he sold it for $15 down.

After some back and forth, the companies ultimately threatened to act against him with copyright infringement action.

Surprisingly, Kopp reacted by suing Blizzard for blocking sales of his book, claiming that his book does not infringe any copyrights. He quickly gained support from public-interest advocacy group Public Citizen.

After having been suspended from eBay twice, Kopp continues to sell the book on his own site, regardless of the current legal situation.

So is it about time someone strikes back? Restrictive MMORPG policies are no news but this will surely spawn many “this time they went too far” comments, proceeding to push MMORPGs even further into the public media.

 

 You always see it the other way around, yet in this case, Blizzard actually got whacked for applying their – already controversial – MMORPG policies.

The whole affair started when Brian Kopp, a 24-year-old resident of Bronson, who wrote his own guide to WoW, “The Ultimate World of Warcraft Leveling & Gold Guide”, got his account suspended there after Blizzard, Vivendi and the ESA forced eBay to take the auctions where he sold it for $15 down.

After some back and forth, the companies ultimately threatened to act against him with copyright infringement action.

Surprisingly, Kopp reacted by suing Blizzard for blocking sales of his book, claiming that his book does not infringe any copyrights. He quickly gained support from public-interest advocacy group Public Citizen.

After having been suspended from eBay twice, Kopp continues to sell the book on his own site, regardless of the current legal situation.

So is it about time someone strikes back? Restrictive MMORPG policies are no news but this will surely spawn many “this time they went too far” comments, proceeding to push MMORPGs even further into the public media.