Keep Your Program Out of My Game: The Ninth Circuit’s Convoluted Copyright Analysis in MDY Industries, Inc. v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc
Brandon T. Crowther · BYU Law Library (Brigham Young University) · 2012
World of Warcraft ("WoW"), a popular online game, boasts over twelve million users 1 and generates more than $1.5 billion annually.2 Blizzard Entertainment, the company that runs WoW, claims in its end user license agreement ("EULA") to grant purchasers "a limited, non-exclusive license" to install and use the game subject to numerous restrictions.3 Besides retaining the ability to terminate the license agreement at will, Blizzard also requires users to agree that any violation of the restrictions on the license agreement constitutes "an infringement of Blizzard's copyrights in and to the Game." 4 Under U.S. copyright law, the penalty for copyright infringement can be steep: statutory damages of up to $150,000 for willful infringements, or actual damages if they can be proved.5 With so much risk for so many users, it is critical that courts craft copyright law to account for the realities of the marketplace and the protection of consumers.Additionally, courts should be sensitive to the interests of others trying to lawfully create products that integrate into other digitally based products, such as online games, especially when those integrations do not harm demand for the original product.Unfortunately, the Ninth Circuit has taken a different approach in MDY Industries, Inc. v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. 6 In that case, the court provided only