rogue3d

Anyone else read about the lawsuit by Blizzard against MDY?

MDY is responsible for a BOTting program for WoW, and is in the process of being sued by them for copyright infringement and breaking their DMCA.

There are 2 problems as reported by a number of sites like ArsTechnica;

1. Since running any program requires that at least part of the executable is copied into RAM
2. Title 17 section 117 of US Law states:

"Making of Additional Copy or Adaptation by Owner of Copy.— Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, it is not an infringement for the owner of a copy of a computer program to make or authorize the making of another copy or adaptation of that computer program provided:

(1) that such a new copy or adaptation is created as an essential step in the utilization of the computer program in conjunction with a machine and that it is used in no other manner, or

(2) that such new copy or adaptation is for archival purposes only and that all archival copies are destroyed in the event that continued possession of the computer program should cease to be rightful."

Lawyers for MDY are making that case that the above US code makes the BOT program legal since it is an essential step to copy at least part of the executable's code into memory. Therefore, whether you use Blizzard's game client or MDY's client, a copy is being made into your RAM. Furthermore, the above US code allows for adaptations of the executable code to be made when copying it into RAM, since copying the executable code into RAM is an essential step in running the software.

So, I guess it's going to come down to how "adaptations" are defined by either the judge and/or jury.

Here's one link, to the ArsTechnica site.
Blizzard attempt to kill WoW bot bad news for copyright law

Pinski

Just because it is legal to make the bot, doesn't make it against the EULA to use the bot.

__________________
How many times do you hear it? It goes on all day long
Everyone knows everything And no one's ever wrong
Until later...
Who can you believe? It's hard to play it safe
But apart from a few good friends We don't take anything on faith
Until later..

mandark1967

That defense won't fly.

In reference to Title 17 Section 117:

A.) The copy made is not for archival purposes (takes care of #2)

B.) Copying the program executable into memory to enable a cheat (which is NOT an essential step to use the initial executable program) takes care of #1

The judge assigned to this case is smart. MDY is gonna get hammered. Hard.

Pinski

I also want to say, Glider is not illegal in any shape of form. We have Game Genie to prove why it's not illegal.

End of story. Game Genie defense = Glider is LEGAL. Now, whether it's against the EULA, totally different issue at hand. I honestly don't see Glider getting in ANY trouble with the law, they can be sued for $ for causing the violation of the EULA for many people, etc. But trouble with the law? None, unless the judge is a total retard.

__________________
How many times do you hear it? It goes on all day long
Everyone knows everything And no one's ever wrong
Until later...
Who can you believe? It's hard to play it safe
But apart from a few good friends We don't take anything on faith
Until later..

rogue3d

Every program you run is copied into RAM and done so not for archival purposes, so we all are breaking DMCA rules right now by using web browsers according to that argument.

Here's my breakdown of #1...

original blizzard game client
hacked cheat client if it is made while being copied into RAM, NOT copying a pre-existing hacked game client into RAM.

all computer programs (at least in part) need to be loaded into RAM to run

you don't use the WoW game client to run numbers, cook dinner, as a word processor... you have to use it to play WoW.

mandark1967

No shit, sherlock holmes. Its copied into ram for the specific purpose of executing... Making a copy of it to interface with a program designed to change the behavior of the original executable is not protected by law.

rogue3d

wouldn't that be considered an adaptation?

mandark1967

Blizzard won the suit bump

Slashdot | Blizzard Wins Major Lawsuit Against Bot Developers

Faabio

Does it matter? Like 50% of the people playing WoW bot

__________________

kythik

and now for the appeals!

__________________