MDY Indus., LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
629 F.3d 928 (2010)
- Written by Jack Newell, JD
Facts
Blizzard Entertainment (Blizzard) (plaintiff) operated the massively multiplayer online roleplaying game World of Warcraft. Players needed to open an account and download software in order to play the game. The object of the game was to make the player’s character more powerful by completing objectives in the game. MDY Industries (MDY) (defendant) created a software program called Glider. Players could download Glider and use it to put their characters in World of Warcraft on autopilot in order to make that character more powerful without actually playing the game. Blizzard created a software program called Warden. Warden could detect unauthorized software such as Glider and block it from working. Glider was later modified in order to bypass Warden and continue to operate in World of Warcraft. Blizzard sued MDY for violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), alleging Glider was developed to bypass measures that protected Blizzard’s copyrighted material. The district court ruled that MDY was liable under two separate provisions of the DMCA: §§ 1201(a)(2) and (b)(1). Blizzard appealed to the Ninth Circuit.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Callahan, J.)
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