Video Game Lawsuit Frenzy - Zygna, NCSoft, Blizzard Fight for Real Stakes

Although videos games, particularly online, interactive and multi-player games, are supposed to be about fun and, well, games, they have obviously become increasingly big business.  Any doubters of that fact need only look at Disney's $563M acquisition of online and social-networking game-maker Playdom earlier this month.  However, game studios, publishers and players have all recently been reminded that with big business comes big lawsuits:

1. Blizzard Entertainment v. Scapegaming:  On August 10, 2010, the Federal District Court for the Central District of California issued a Damages Order (based on the Court's earlier Order Granting Default Judgment) slamming defendant Scapegaming for $88M (in a Final Default Judgment) for running a private server and selling unauthorized in-game items and processing related transactions through PayPal (to the tune of $3M+) for copyright infringement and related anti-circumvention and breach of contract claims related to the popular World of Warcraft MMOG.  With some of the issues and arguments advanced by Plaintiff, the case could have been a bit more interesting had the Defendant not defaulted (particularly as to the alleged DMCA anti-circumvention arguments).  Read more at Ars Technica and The Hollywood Reporter
   
   



2. Digital Chocolate v. Zygna:  In a 79-page complaint (including exhibits), Plaintiff game-maker Digital Chocolate alleges darling social gaming company Zygna's Facebook-based game MAFIA WARS infringes Plaintiff's game of the same name and (arguably) similar characteristics (Zygna also makes the popular Facebook-based game FarmVille).  Interestingly, in a still ongoing case filed last year, Zygna sued Playdom (yes, the same company acquired by Disney as noted above) for, among other claims, infringement of Zygna's trademark rights in MAFIA WARS found in Playdom advertising.  This could get interesting.  Read more at Courthouse News and PaidContent.org
   



3. Jagex Ltd. v. Impulse Software:  The company claiming to offer the largest free MMOG in the world sued Defendant Impulse Software in February 2010 on a host of claims including copyright and trademark infringement, related to the creation and offering for sale bot-based automated game-play technology that enables users to play the game with little to no human interaction while simultaneously reaching allegedly unfair advanced levels of game achievement.  Although denying Plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction, the Court also dismissed Defendant's motion to dismiss, thereby enabling the case to continue.  If the parties continue to litigate, the issues presented could lead to some very interesting issues being addressed.  Read more at Courthouse News
   



4. Smallwood v. NCSoft:  In a 49-page ruling, a Federal District Court in Hawaii has allowed portions of suit against game publisher NCSoft to proceed alleging a host of claims related to Plaintiff's general theory that NCSoft is to blame for Plaintiff's debilitating addiction to Defendant's Lineage II MMORPG 3-D game.  Among the intriguing, if not sad, facts alleged giving insight into the world of online game players is Plaintiff's allegation that he played the game for 20,000 hours over a five-year period (that's nearly 11 hours per day, every day for five years!).  After much initial motion action, the Defendants finally Answered the Complaint; although the Court dismissed some of Plaintiff's claims, it allowed others to proceed.  Though I have heard anecdotally of similar 'addicted to video game cases', this is the first I've seen generating such a lengthy Order (though, admittedly, I did not conduct a comprehensive search).  Although Defendant's case is definitely rickety, the case no doubt presents yet another interesting insight into the seriousness of the online video game industry and its expanding effects.  Read more at Wired

I guess, it's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt...

Source: http://weiskopf-iplaw.blogspot.com/2010/08/video-game-lawsuit-frenzy-zygna-ncsoft.html

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Notes from Mexico City: Software Piracy as a Measure of Societal Progress

Originally published by The Awl on August 18th, 2010.

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I love Latin America. I’m not sure if it's the food, the people, the culture or its vibrant collection of knockoffs.

I’m also not sure why I’m so passionate about fake things. Maybe it’s the mockery of consumer capitalism, or the satisfaction of the common man owning something he could never afford. I own a fake Adidas jumpsuit from La Paz. A pair of Phony (brand) headphones from Bogota. And a copy of Avatar filmed during a 3D screening.

And so I was delighted the other week, when I went to Mexico City for the sixteenth time.

I spent my time in the largest city in the Americas eating gourmet Mexican cuisine, discovering clandestine mezcalerias, cheerfully walking along the wide paseos.

Mexico City is definitely not as scary as you think it is. The taxi cab kidnappings and narco-executions—many of which are taking place further to the north—are eclipsed in Mexico City by a more ubiquitous crime… the crime against intellectual property.

Around the corner from Palacio Bellas Artes, Mexico City’s most revered cultural institution, merchants line the street to sell less esteemed populist art.

Vendors have hawked MP3 CDs and DVDs at this intersection for years, but on this trip I witnessed something new. For the first time, people were selling counterfeit software.

“¡Compra! ¡Compra! ¡Encarta! ¡Windows Vista! ¡Fotoshop!”

The corner of Lazaro Cardenas and Uruguay is the epicenter of the counterfeit consumer electronics sector of Colonia Centro Historico. It’s east of the light fixture district, and just past the blender repair zone. Here you can purchase any program that you’d ever want to torrent for fewer than 60 pesos.

I’m not really sure what a pirated copy of “YouTube” looks like, but these men with binders full of PC software make a living selling these products to passers-by.

This industry says a lot about Mexican use of technology.

For at least one thing, as software pirates become more visible on the street, we can assume that more people have computers in their homes.

A government study concludes that home computer ownership has increased from 18.6% in 2005 to 26.8% in 2009. Not all PC owners will buy their software on the street, but many can only afford to buy from the piratas.

Some might be historically economically disadvantaged, and/or others are likely too young to have a disposable income, since 70.5% of home computer users are between the ages of 12-17.

Many of those kids are playing World of Warcraft, though I suspect some are cultivating something more substantial than hit points.

Vendors hawk hundreds of programs that fuel the 21st century’s learning explosion. Pirated titles like Corel Draw, AutoCad, and Fruityloops make me wonder if we’ll see a surge of graphic designers, architects and musicians. When more people have access to technology, more people have access to knowledge and platforms for innovation.

Maybe piracy can even stimulate America’s so-called “Creativity Crisis."

Though I didn’t have use for a pirated copy of ¡Aprende Ingles! I did leave Mexico with something to add to my counterfeit collection: this fake torta. 

Source: http://hellerscorner.blogspot.com/2010/08/notes-from-mexico-city-software-piracy.html

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