World of Warcraft makers Blizzard Entertainment has been awarded a $6 million judgement against MDY Industries, the makers of MMOGlider, a program that can automate the actions of players in the popular online game, enabling them to perform repetitive tasks—and do things like "farm gold"——without the player actually having to go through all the motions. The case has been going on since 2006; MDY Industries sells the MMOGlider program for $25, although there’s no consistent information regarding how many copies have been sold.
Last July, Arizona judge David G. Campbell ruled that MMOGlider infringed on Blizzard’s World of Warcraft copyrights. The judge did not rule on whether MMGlider violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA); however, judge Campbell did rule that MMOGlider violates the World of Warcraft license, and thus Blizzard is entitled to $6 million in damages. The judge did not grant Blizzard’s request for triple damages. The parties are due back in court in January to work out the details and determine whether MMOGlider violates the DMCA.
If the decision stands—and it’s possible either or both parties may appeal—it may establish an unusual precedent in saying that violating terms of an End User License Agreement or terms of use can also constitute a copyright violation in some cases, depending on the methodology behind violating the license. In theory, this could enable Blizzard and other online game operators to go after end-users running bots and other automated tools for copyright infringement, rather than a comparatively simple terms-of-service violation.
