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  1. #1

    Bot company sues Blizzard

    Whole copy:


    If you've been following the Blizzard Entertainment vs Bossland GmbH lawsuit, this is big news. I did an interview with Hawker awhile back that gave us some indication that Bossland GmbH had been prepping up and insulating their company against a lawsuit by Blizzard Entertainment for a long while, but now the unexpected has happened.

    On January 9, 2012 at 18:40, Bossland GmbH formally announced on their official website that they will seek recompense from Activision Blizzard in a lawsuit in which Bossland GmbH and their legal representatives assert that Blizzard's End User License Agreement and Terms of Service were not a part of the game's purchase contract, and that the EULA and ToS are, "...intransparent, surprising, and incomprehensible..."

    The lawsuit will be handled by the court in Berlin, and the German rejoinder can be found at this link for those interested. As always, we wish Bossland GmbH the best in their battle against Activision Blizzard. MMOGlider was not fortunate enough to have the legal insulation and preparedness for an onslaught from Blizzard Entertainment's lawyers. but perhaps Bossland GmbH will level the playing field and change the precedent in the ongoing legal battles between game developers and third-party software developers.




    Discuss

    Mod edit: Keep it on-topic and constructive. No discussion of actual botting practices, botting names, or whether or not you use a bot
    Last edited by Darsithis; 2012-01-11 at 09:55 PM.

  2. #2
    Epic! Ihsatakar's Avatar
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    Now that's just being foolish.

  3. #3
    It's blizzard game. They are doing something illegal in Blizzard's game. How is this even worthy of a case?

  4. #4
    If by some miracle this doesn't get locked (as discussing these things on this forum is against the rules) I'd bare minimum edit out the forum you got this off of and the bot names + message a mod to get permission to keep this up (as it is an interesting topic that they would choose to sue Blizz especially on such shaky grounds.

    I personally would prefer they lose because I hate botters but I'll certainly follow it to see how hard they lose by!

  5. #5
    High Overlord Kathas's Avatar
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    They were orchestrating a means of cheating in an environment that prohibits cheating.

    I hope they lose. Just play the damn game like everyone else.

  6. #6
    That's idiotic beyond belief.

  7. #7
    There's not much of a chance at victory. Blizzard owns the game, and anyone who logs in agrees to a EULA and TOS. Blizzard can't prevent botting companies from making bots, but they can ban your account for use of programs that allow you to break the EULA and TOS.

  8. #8

  9. #9
    Just a few questions out of curosity,

    is this bot program they developed specific for World of Warcraft?

    Did Blizzard try and shut them down or did they just fine them?

    Why can this type of program face any legal ramifications, when the EULA and ToS aren't legally binding?

  10. #10
    I for one hope Blizzard crushes them. People who bot are easily one of the most annoying things in WoW. I wish there was a more effective way for Blizzard to ban everyone who uses them.

  11. #11
    Legendary! Jaxi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shaqur View Post
    As always, we wish Bossland GmbH the best in their battle against Activision Blizzard.
    Why do wish them the best...?
    Quote Originally Posted by Imadraenei View Post
    You can find that unbiased view somewhere between Atlantis and that unicorn farm down the street, just off Interstate √(-1).

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Shaqur View Post
    Discuss
    Counterlawsuits are the best hope for dragging the thing out for years while allowing the company to sell bots to lazy fuckers who're just ruining the game.

    It's not gonna work btw.
    Never going to log into this garbage forum again as long as calling obvious troll obvious troll is the easiest way to get banned.
    Trolling should be.

  13. #13
    Nevermind what i was sayin
    Last edited by artem123; 2012-01-11 at 10:07 PM.

  14. #14
    this is insanity!
    i cant even slightly comprehend the mindset of those botters and i cant imagine why the court would allow such a debate like this.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by artem123 View Post
    its not them doing it, its people using there product, they dont have control where their product gets used.
    If this defense worked, we'd still have things like kazaa

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Howlrunner View Post
    Well, Blizzard can't fine them, that's legally impossible, they cannot do so. Only governmental approved organisations can issue fines, and it usually goes straight to the pockets of the government. All Blizzard could do was issue a legal writ stating that the program is in breach of the TOS that is accepted by all people who use the game, and they will sue any company that creates said programs in order to profiteer or encourage breaching the TOS or that endangers their IP.
    As a lot of these programs use code hacked from the WoW program itself Blizzard have EVERY right to protect their intellectual property they created and thus sue the companies involved. There really isn't a grey area in this, Blizzard are 100% in the right to want to protect their property, and also the customer base that uses it in order to promote fair play and usage.
    Thank you very much for answering my questions, I wasn't aware that there botting programs were designed in such a way.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by alms1407 View Post
    Just a few questions out of curosity,

    is this bot program they developed specific for World of Warcraft?

    Did Blizzard try and shut them down or did they just fine them?

    Why can this type of program face any legal ramifications, when the EULA and ToS aren't legally binding?
    The EULA and ToS are binding to anyone who logs in and plays the game. The people making the bots, just like anyone who makes a program that violates the EULA and/or ToS, are intentionally breaking the rules that everyone must agree to in order to play the game. They are breaking the rules and promoting others to do the same. I don't know anything about this particular company making the bots but if they are in any way making money off their work Blizzard can, and will, go after them for that too.

    This is not the first time a EULA or ToS Agreement have been challenged before and the big company typically wins. For example, lawsuits where filed against Comcast by a number of people and companies for Comcast's practice of throttling download speeds of large files, especially torrents. Comcast went one step further and throttled the downloads in such a way that it was no obvious that Comcast was the one doing it. Comcast made it appear to the user that the issue was the fault of the server or computer that the file was being downloaded from.

    Comcast won in that case and it was declared that you agree to any rules the Comcast sets when you sign up for their subscription based service. WoW, much like your internet, is a subscription based service and is protected in the same way. I am certain that people will attempt to use the "not everyone who plays WoW is 18" argument but all that is spelled out in their EULA as well. Blizzard on good faith believes their customers they subscribed to the game that they are at least 18 or have parental permission.
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  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by artem123 View Post
    its not them doing it, its people using there product, they dont have control where their product gets used. they might be used elsewhere meaning that blizz/activision basically screwed there company over a bit meaning less people will use yada yada which means lost money for something that wasnt caused by them, its not their fault that there product got used in the game, kinda end of story. Maybe blizz should actually try prevent botting, zomgcakes.
    Ps even if they lose, theres still hundreds and hundreds more of bot companys. meaning theres no point but to just really deny wow being launched with a botting program.
    There site says that the bot was made to grind pvp honor/leveling/gathering in WoW.

  19. #19
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by alms1407 View Post
    Just a few questions out of curosity,

    is this bot program they developed specific for World of Warcraft?

    Did Blizzard try and shut them down or did they just fine them?

    Why can this type of program face any legal ramifications, when the EULA and ToS aren't legally binding?
    In Germany EULA'S are part of the AGB (Allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen) and you have to be informed that you have to accept them for playing in this case Wow. That means the Blizzard EULA is invalid in germany as it violates german law. You can in fact basicly ignore any EULA in germany. Blizzard will push their EULA regardless and punish people who violate it till someone sues them. And that just happend, will be interesting to see what exactly happens now.

    "In Deutschland sind EULA zu Standardsoftware nur dann Vertragsbestandteil, wenn sie zwischen Verkäufer und Erwerber der Software bereits beim Kauf vereinbart wurden. Dem Käufer erst nach dem Kauf zugänglich gemachte Lizenzbestimmungen (zum Beispiel während der Installation oder als gedruckte Beilage in der Verpackung) sind für den Käufer wirkungslos. Dies gilt auch dann, wenn der Käufer bei der Installation "Ich stimme der Lizenzvereinbarung zu" oder Ähnliches anklickt, weil die Software sonst die Installation verweigert." ...you can google translate it yourself
    Last edited by mmoc2396dc89c6; 2012-01-11 at 10:11 PM. Reason: typo

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Anias View Post
    There site says that the bot was made to grind pvp honor/leveling/gathering in WoW.
    oh, i never knew that. then nevermind what i said hah, i was talking about most bots that have other purposes, in that case. they should really lose quit easyily

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