Blizzard v. BNETD
At issue in this case is whether three software programmers who created the BnetD game server -- which interoperates with Blizzard video games online -- were in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and Blizzard Games' end user license agreement (EULA).
BnetD is an open source program that lets gamers play popular Blizzard titles like Warcraft with other gamers on servers that don't belong to Blizzard's Battle.net service. Blizzard argued that the programmers who wrote BnetD violated the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions and that the programmers also violated several parts of Blizzard's EULA, including a section on reverse engineering.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), co-counsel for the defendants, has appealed a District Court decision in St. Louis that held that programmers are not allowed to create free software designed to work with commercial products.
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals will determine whether the three software programmers who created the open source BnetD game server were in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and Blizzard Games' end user license agreement (EULA). EFF will argue that programming and distributing BnetD is a fair use and therefore violates neither Blizzard's EULA nor the DMCA's prohibitions.
As it stands, the lower court's decision makes it unlawful in most cases to reverse engineer any commercial software program, thus making it impossible to create new programs that interoperate with older ones. This squeezes consumer choice out of the marketplace by essentially allowing companies to outlaw competitors' products that interact with their own. EFF considers this situation unacceptable and will use the appeal to explain why EULAs and the DMCA should not be allowed to trump fair use forms of reverse engineering when undertaken to create new products.
Appeal Documents
Appellants' Briefs
Amicus Briefs in support of Appellants
Appellees' Brief
Amicus Briefs in Support of Appellees
District Court Documents
Decision on both Plaintiffs' and Defendants' Motions for Summary Judgement
Plaintiffs' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment
Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment on all claims
Defendants' Motion to Transfer Venue
Complaints
- Defendants' Answer [PDF 687k] and Counterclaims to Plaintiffs' Second Amended Complaint. December 4, 2002
- Second Amended Complaint [PDF 1.1M] December 3, 2002; updated January 15, 2003
- First Amended Complaint [PDF 702k] filed by Blizzard Entertainment/Vivendi Universal/Davidson & Associates. against the bnetd project's Internet service provider, and now in the amended version against the bnetd developers, in Davidson et al. v. Internet Gateway et al. April 14, 2002
- Complaint [PDF 200k] filed by Blizzard Entertainment/Vivendi Universal/Davidson & Associates against the bnetd project's Internet service provider, in Davidson et al. v. Internet Gateway et al. April 5, 2002
- Cease-and-desist and legal threat letter from Vivendi/Blizzard to bnetd project and their ISP. February 19, 2002
Media Releases
- EFF Appeals Anti-Competitive BnetD Ruling - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has appealed a District Court decision in St. Louis that held that programmers are not allowed to create free software designed to work with commercial products... Nov. 4, 2004
- Dangerous Ruling Menaces Rights of Free Software Programmers - Fair use was dealt a harsh blow today in a Federal Court decision that held that programmers are not allowed to create free software designed to work with commercial products. At issue in the case was whether three software programmers who created the BnetD game server -- which interoperates with Blizzard video games online -- were in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and Blizzard Games' end user license agreement (EULA)... Sept. 30, 2004
- Blizzard Freezes Bnetd Gaming Platform, Sues Own Customers - Electronic Frontier Foundation Defends Gamers' Rights. St. Louis - Game maker Blizzard Entertainment late Friday sued a small Internet Service Provider and its owner for distributing the free bnetd software that emulates Blizzard's free Battle.net gaming service. The lawsuit claims that the free software emulator violates copyright and trademark laws. However, EFF maintains that bnetd was created with perfectly legal reverse engineering techniques, and that the case has no merit. April 8, 2002
- EFF letter to Blizzard/Vivendi, critical of their legal harassment of the bnetd project and its ISP. March 12, 2002
- Media Conglomerate Threatens Suit Against Gamer Community - EFF Condemns Copyright Abuse San Francisco - EFF today chided media conglomerate Vivendi Universal Publishing for threatening gamers who created their own multiplayer gaming community. On behalf of its Blizzard Entertainment division, Vivendi sent a "cease and desist" letter to Internet Gateway Inc., the ISP host of a free software project called bnetd that emulates Blizzard's Battle.net gaming service. Vivendi demanded that the ISP disable the website hosting the bnetd software, claiming it violates copyright law and the anticircumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). March 12, 2002
External Resources
- Penny Arcade breaks the issue down into an easy bite-sized chunklet. March 4, 2002
