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Geek Culture / private server to pay Blizzard $88 million in damages

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Phaelax
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Posted: 18th Aug 2010 07:00
http://www.wow.com/2010/08/14/private-server-company-forced-to-pay-blizzard-88-million/

I don't understand how this can be copyright infringement, but maybe I don't understand how the private servers work. What code exactly are they changing to justify infringement? The game itself doesn't need changed, and the free server isn't exactly running a modified bnet server, it's somewhat original code isn't it? (i have no idea)

Not sure I can agree with the awarded amount, but it says the owner was making profit from this server (don't know how much) so I'd agree with the ruling.


"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" ~ Arthur C. Clarke
BiggAdd
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Posted: 18th Aug 2010 07:12
Most of the WoW private servers use the Databases which are illegally downloaded from blizzard's servers (not sure how they go about doing that)

So its the massive amounts of quest, item and npc data that Blizzard could probably get them on.

Insanity Complex
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Posted: 18th Aug 2010 08:03
Because they used Blizzard's content as a method of making money.....

gamerboots
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Posted: 18th Aug 2010 09:41 Edited at: 18th Aug 2010 09:43
and you cant use other companies content to make $ without consent , thats just stealing. now why it was so high is because there are minimun statutory damages that come with this , whitch judging from the amount means that they did a LOT of stealing.

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Gamerboots~
JLMoondog
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Posted: 18th Aug 2010 10:11
The woman actually made $3.5 million from collected fees. She was actually allowing illegal paid gold trading to take place on her realm which was the main reason of putting her down.

The $88 mill is basically how much she will have owed in the end as she makes set payments + interest over so many years.

+1 for Blizz, don't mess with them especially with Activision lawyers standing behind them.

bitJericho
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Posted: 19th Aug 2010 13:44
Quote: "She was actually allowing illegal paid gold trading to take place on her realm which was the main reason of putting her down. "


Illegal paid gold trading? lol, what's illegal about that?

I doubt blizzard was like "Hey, she's allowing gold trading, let's STOP her!"

thenerd
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Posted: 19th Aug 2010 16:11
I think people were paying her real money for gold, that's why blizzard shut her down.


bitJericho
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Posted: 19th Aug 2010 19:56
Ahhhh that makes more sense. That's super lame.

Then again, the media/courts tend to put a big slant on these kinds of things. (eg, they may claim she was charging for gold, but maybe she advertised it as a donation system to keep the servers running and offer prizes and things to people. Meaning, she wasn't pulling in millions, she was operating it like a more or less evil non-profit with good intentions) While still very wrong, it's very different circumstance not warranting 88 million dollars in damages.

Then again, she could have been doing exactly what was stated. I have no idea. I don't really care. WoW isn't my thing, and is more or less the most yawn worthy game in the history of mankind.

JLMoondog
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Posted: 19th Aug 2010 22:01
She made $3.5 million dollars in profit...when is that non-profit?

Quik
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Posted: 20th Aug 2010 01:01
sure, it is wrong making money from others, however 88million in damages? thats just sick, and it makes me sick.
Thats a sick amount of money really, and having to pay that...
even if i was a billion dollar company who makes a lot of money...

no way..


[Q]uik, Quiker than most
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Posted: 20th Aug 2010 01:08
No, its data manipulation.

When you buy world of warcraft, you do not own the game, instead you rent the ability to use it. Editing the game files in any way (which is required to setup a private server) its against the TOS.

If all else fails, blame your Government.
JLMoondog
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Posted: 20th Aug 2010 02:47
Quote: "ure, it is wrong making money from others, however 88million in damages? thats just sick, and it makes me sick."


It's not sick, it's standing up for your rights as a company to protect their property. It's their game, I don't see an issue with this. She knew what she was doing, she's the one that f'd up.

Quik
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Posted: 20th Aug 2010 03:46
Quote: "
It's not sick, it's standing up for your rights as a company to protect their property. It's their game, I don't see an issue with this. She knew what she was doing, she's the one that f'd up."


you dont see an issue with being sued for 88million dollars?
in sweden that is 650million swedish kronor..
that means it would take my father, who has an own company about..


,,,
... a lifetime +++ to repay it.

isnt that sick? then i dont know what is sick.

Think realisticly, how is it fair to charge a normal human being, with a normal job etc with 88million dollars? thats an INSANE amount of money wich makes me sick to even think about.

now then, maybe she have earned quiet a lot from that, however charging for 88million is sick in my ears. And i mean really really sick.


[Q]uik, Quiker than most
Interplanetary Funk
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Posted: 20th Aug 2010 03:53
I agree with Quik to extent. I feel that suing someone for that much is a bit ridiculous. Though I don't know what her options for paying it off would be, what happens to any remaining debt she has when she dies etc. I feel it is a bit ridiculous if she has to give every cent she earns to blizzard without anything to survive or if the debt is passed on to following generations it is a bit OTT, but also, she did breach Blizzards TOS and the law as well as encouraging others to break the law, and not in a small way, so a hefty punishment is deserved, but not something quite as hefty as that.

BASIC programmers never die, they GOSUB and don't RETURN.
Kravenwolf
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Posted: 20th Aug 2010 04:07 Edited at: 20th Aug 2010 04:11
Quote: "you dont see an issue with being sued for 88million dollars?"


I don't see a problem with it, either. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time. She was aware of the consequences and she did it anyway. She put her hand on the burner even though the sign said it was hot. And she got burned. I'm sure that amount has something to do with discouraging others to follow in her footsteps, and I'm sure it will.

EDIT: Look at option #2, carried out by file uploading sites, for example. A file is reported as copyright infringement, and taken down the next day. A few days later, that same person uploads the same file five more times. No consequence; nothing changes. Now, take that same person, and hand him a $10,000 fine for each illegal torrent he uploads. One less pirate. You want peace; give em war!

+1 for Blizzard.

Kravenwolf

Quik
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Posted: 20th Aug 2010 04:11
Quote: "
I don't see a problem with it, either. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time. She was aware of the consequences and she did it anyway. She put her hand on the burner even though the sign said it was hot. And she got burned."


yes yes ofc you got a small point here, however, just because it is hot, she doesnt have to loose the hand.
What i mean is, now blizzard will probably want their money right?
pretty bad i mean.
So, theyre probably gonna squeeze it out of her until she is 80years old and in a grave.
Then what? she probably still has about 40mil+ to pay off? whats gonna happen then?
And what do you think will happen in her life until she is in that grave? with that much on her back, she isnt going to stand.


[Q]uik, Quiker than most
Kravenwolf
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Posted: 20th Aug 2010 04:39
Quote: "just because it is hot, she doesnt have to loose the hand."


Well, in this case; the sign on the burner pretty much said; "put your hand here, and lose it". And she did. Blizzard has gone after others before for the same thing;

Quote: "Blizzard considers any violation of those license limitations to be copyright infringement and sues people for such."


http://www.google.com/#hl=en&rlz=1W1ADRA_en&&sa=X&ei=L9ltTLeyIIG78gab4YnfDA&ved=0CBEQBSgA&q=blizzard+sues+gold+mining&spell=1&fp=634be7f9c98ae18c

What did she expect? A slap on the wrist? To be the exception to the rule? Darwinism as plain as I can see it.

In any case, the end of the article said she may appeal the amount. No doubt the judge will work it down to a more realistic number. As I said, I'm sure the original amount is there to fill in media articles to discourage others to follow in her footsteps. And while I can agree to some extent that 88mil is an unrealistic amount (and that extent is limited to the fact that they'll never see all of it paid), she shouldn't have done it in the first place. Though, it does get the point across; and is much more effective than a slap on the wrist and letting her be on her way.

Quote: "And what do you think will happen in her life until she is in that grave? with that much on her back, she isnt going to stand"


From what I know about these sort of outcomes in United States, Blizzard will receive a nice chunk from her weekly paycheck towards the settlement until the amount is paid off. It's not a matter of taking her house, her car, and the clothes on her back (they can't collect if she's dead). It's more or less going to be another 'bill' that rests on top of her water and electricity.

Kravenwolf

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Posted: 20th Aug 2010 17:48
Mhm... people used to kill other people if they got in the way of their business..
Why are you complaining?
You probably don't know this person.

If all else fails, blame your Government.
bitJericho
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Posted: 20th Aug 2010 17:57
Yeah, I read some news on it. Apparently it was 470,000 players strong, and they were taking donations in return for gold/items/levels.

With 47000 people on at any one time, I somehow doubt 3million in revenue is 3 million in profits

Just saying, I'd like to see an article stating how much in actual profits was made.

Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 20th Aug 2010 19:23
It seems money related crimes suffer larger punishments or charges to non-money related crimes. $88 million is very steep, it's an impossible amount to pay back, so her punishment is a life-time of debt. At least people who are sent to prison for 10 years walk out as free people.

Yes, don't do the crime, if you can't do the time, but of course, it doesn't mean a punishment is always fair in proportion to the crime. I'm sure you wouldn't argue the same thing in countries where a thief has their hand chopped off. You might argue it deters people, but it also often screws them over for life.

How much of the $88 million is Blizzard actually going to receive from these damages? Probably very little - unless of course, she's rich. She can give all the money she earned back and then some and prison time on top of that. As a result of her crime the only life screwed is her own - not even murderers have their whole life screwed, because a life sentence, really isn't a 'life' sentence and some get off on parole without serving much of a sentence. A local drunk driver who killed an 18 year girl after speeding down the high street ONLY got a 5 year sentence, of which he served 3 - the same time in prison as a guy I went to school with who was drunk, threatened a taxi driver, stole his taxi and crashed it into a tree. To me, there's a complete imbalance in the justice system - after all the victim and her family came off far worse than the culprit.

When you combine these stories with the stories of those who have cost multi-million organizations money in their illegal practices, it says to me the value of human life is lower than that of money.


I think lawsuits ought to be proportionate of a person's ability to pay the money - for example, if a billion dollar organization breaks the law with use of copyrighted or patented material, then they can survive the damages, if somebody is on a small income and commits a similar crime, they're screwed.

If a business is willing to pay the fines, then they could get away with breaking the law in favour of their practices. So, in that sense, the law is easily corruptible, and from what I understand, it happens. Justice seems to be in favour of the rich.

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Quik
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Posted: 20th Aug 2010 19:37
Quote: "
You probably don't know this person."



thats very unrelated.
Caring for another human being is hardly wrong is it? Or did i miss something...?

Quote: "
I think lawsuits ought to be proportionate of a person's ability to pay the money - for example, if a billion dollar organization breaks the law with use of copyrighted or patented material, then they can survive the damages, if somebody is on a small income and commits a similar crime, they're screwed. "


I agree totally


[Q]uik, Quiker than most
Fatal Berserker
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Posted: 21st Aug 2010 05:33 Edited at: 21st Aug 2010 05:37
Quote: "Caring for another human being is hardly wrong is it? Or did i miss something...?"

Blizzard are humans too.

Quote: " if a billion dollar organization breaks the law with use of copyrighted or patented material, then they can survive the damages if somebody is on a small income and commits a similar crime, they're screwed."

Generally if you break the law you already realize that you are breaking the law and you can get a fine/time, its your choice to then continue to break the law and ontop of that make money.
I dont see this problem your getting at, because i really dont think there is a problem. This girl should already know that copyright infringement is a crime, if you commit a crime you should serve, if you dont serve then whats the point in laws?

If this women has caused blizzard $88 million, then i see no reason why blizzards actions are being downrated. If i was to whack someone in the jaw, i should expect them to turn around and hit me back, its the same concept.

Quote: " the law is easily corruptible"

Its not corrupt, both people would serve the same sentence.

Smoke me a kipper, ill be back for breakfast.
Lemonade
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Posted: 21st Aug 2010 10:09 Edited at: 21st Aug 2010 10:11
Quote: "
I think lawsuits ought to be proportionate of a person's ability to pay the money - for example, if a billion dollar organization breaks the law with use of copyrighted or patented material, then they can survive the damages, if somebody is on a small income and commits a similar crime, they're screwed. "
"


Some fines definitely seem arbitrarily large. But either way, if you commit a crime as bad as this, expect a high punishment. At that point, I don't think you have much of a right to complain.

Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 21st Aug 2010 11:57
Quote: "Its not corrupt, both people would serve the same sentence."


Of course it's corruptible. If a business can easily afford the fine, then what's to deter them from breaking the law again? Businesses sometimes take risks if they know it boosts their profits, what's to stop them from making risks within the law? If they can easily afford the fine then the business really doesn't suffer for its crime.

Quote: "This girl should already know that copyright infringement is a crime, if you commit a crime you should serve, if you dont serve then whats the point in laws?"


Then you've not really read my response. I didn't say 'don't serve her for her crimes', I said, 'don't punish her so severe'. I think she should get a harsh punishment, but not a punishment that could screw her for life, there's no way an average person could dream of paying $88million. Like I said, at least murderers get to walk free after so many years.

But since when was 'money' more important than quality of life? Some people are left far worse off than Blizzard by crimes that are considered by law 'lesser' than copyright infringement, and at the same time the culprit is still punished, but not as severely. There's something wrong with the law there.

I tend not to buy these "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime" arguments when talking about the severity of a law, because for any crime and punishment, it could be 'if you can't do the time, don't do the crime', so why not reintroduce the Bloody Code? I mean, nobody can afford to do the time then, unless they're feeling suicidal. This is why I say punishment ought to be proportionate. Plus it's completely the wrong attitude, because what if you can do the time? Then does that mean they can do the crime? No, it shouldn't mean that at all. Businesses earning in the high millions or even in the billions can afford to get away with copyright infringement and clashes with patents. They might consider it a worthy risk at least.

Hence I think if the punishment is going to be a fine, it needs to be proportionate to how much a person suffers for it - is it fair that in one situation a person comes off screwed for life, yet in the next another they recover quickly?

Blizzard could easily recover from the damages, the woman won't likely to be able to recover from her crime. She shouldn't get away with it, I agree, as nobody should be able to get away with their crime, but I don't think punishment should be based on monetary value, but rather suffering proportionate to that of which they caused...well, obviously drawing the line at some point (I mean, we wouldn't torture a torturer).

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IanM
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Posted: 21st Aug 2010 19:21
Quote: "Most of the WoW private servers use the Databases which are illegally downloaded from blizzard's servers (not sure how they go about doing that)"

If that's true, then Ok, it's copyright infringement, but I can't see anywhere that says that is what happened.

I can see maybe a breach of contract for people who log into those servers, but that still doesn't mean the server providers are breaking any law.

Basically, from what I can see so far, it seems like this is Blizzard suing because someone offered some competition and they didn't like it.

Of course, if someone can show where some actual copying took place to provide the servers...

Phaelax
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Posted: 21st Aug 2010 19:44
I suppose they can try to claim that they lost money from every person who played on a private server, but that is unlikely. If it wasn't for the free private servers, I never would've played WoW in the first place so they didn't lose any potential money from me.


"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" ~ Arthur C. Clarke
IanM
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Posted: 21st Aug 2010 21:42
Simple scenario: You open up a pizza shop, it does really well. A few months later, someone else opens up a pizza shop right across the road - a lot of their toppings are the same as yours. Your sales drop as a result of the competition.

Have they infringed on any copyright?

No. Ideas (for the toppings/recipes) cannot be copyrighted, and they are using raw materials that they provided themselves.

Have they broken the law? No. It's just a competitor, and competition is not illegal no matter how much you don't like it.

So, despite you having lost money and your competitor having made money at your expense there has been no law-breaking. No-one has a right to permanent revenues or profit.

Hopefully someone will show where the copying of Blizzard data took place and that'll be the end of that, but right now, without so far having seen any actual copying taking place, I'm seeing this as anti-competitive bullying via the courts rather than justice.

Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 00:57
If it's just hosting a server, then what law was she breaking?

I suppose evidence ought to be brought forth on their claims of copyright infringement, if they think that is what has happened. If this is the case, then surely, she ought to be able to appeal. I know people are so automatically judgmental when it comes to copyright issues, but surely she can waive something in her defense. She can make the claim she didn't copy the data...I wonder, has she made this claim herself? Or has she pleaded guilty of it?

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Interplanetary Funk
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 02:14
Quote: "what law was she breaking?"

She was breaking Blizzards TOS and various other policies she agree'd to. The main one being "Do not emulate or in any other way reproduce our service or software" or something along those lines, which is exactly what she did.

BASIC programmers never die, they GOSUB and don't RETURN.
Shadowtroid
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 04:04
Quote: "Darwinism as plain as I can see it."


Unfortunately Darwinism doesn't work unless these people die off.

Let's get to natural selecting then.

On topic, I agree with Kraven. Yes, there is no way she can pay this...But maybe she should have thought of that before committing the crime.

Why should one person be treated differently because they cannot afford it? Just because someone cannot afford it does not mean they didn't do it.

JLMoondog
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 04:13
I say we just throw the Blizz ceo's and this woman in a locked room with wiffle ball bats for an hour and be done with it.

Phaelax
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 04:41
Quote: "She was breaking Blizzards TOS and various other policies she agree'd to. "


really? Wasn't aware she agreed to any when she bought her copy of bnet server. Oh wait, there isn't. If anything, the players would be in violation of the TOS for playing on a different server, not the server owner.


"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" ~ Arthur C. Clarke
Libervurto
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 08:49
@Seppuku
Too true. The law protects the law makers and deal breakers.
How can they claim $88M in damages? If she made $3.5M profit surely the damages are $3.5M or whatever the total income was? Where did they get the $88M figure from? Maybe you want to add on a million or put her in jail as a slap on the wrist but $84.5M is a ridiculous penalty.

Interplanetary Funk
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 10:15
Quote: "Where did they get the $88M figure from?"

Quote: "The court took the size of the community, 427,000, and multiplied that figure by $200 "per act of circumvention" of a copyright security system"


http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/29936/Blizzard_Wins_88M_Judgment_Against_WoW_Private_Server_Owner.php


Also, exactly what she got sued for:
Quote: "Blizzard accused Reeves of copyright infringement, unfair competition and circumvention of copyright protection systems, among other allegations. The company said Scapegaming was "well aware" that its actions were unauthorized."


BASIC programmers never die, they GOSUB and don't RETURN.
BiggAdd
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 10:23
From PlanetaryFunk's link:

Quote: "Blizzard had accused Reeves, based in the state of Georgia, of marketing and promoting Scapegaming, which allows users to access the copyrighted World of Warcraft without using official Blizzard servers, circumventing subscription fees due to the game's creators."


This sort of hints to the fact she was using Blizzard's database to run her server.

the_winch
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 14:20
Quote: "This sort of hints to the fact she was using Blizzard's database to run her server."


It's referring to the files installed on the players hard drive. According to Blizzard they own the files so you should only be accessing them if they say so.

I think this is the more relevent quote,

Quote: "Reeves had not responded to the suit, resulting in the default judgment in favor of Blizzard."


I doubt the outcome would have been the same if Reeves had responded with decent lawyers.

By way of demonstration, he emitted a batlike squeak that was indeed bothersome.
Fatal Berserker
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 16:04
Quote: "Simple scenario: You open up a pizza shop, it does really well. A few months later, someone else opens up a pizza shop right across the road - a lot of their toppings are the same as yours. Your sales drop as a result of the competition."

No...
id say the scenario going on is:
new pizza shop opens across the road, whenever they get an order they steal pizzas from your shop and then sell them at their shop cheaper.

Smoke me a kipper, ill be back for breakfast.
Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 16:24
Probably a better comparison:

They've copied the recipes from the other pizza shop and are using them to make their own pizzas.

Like Plankton stealing the secret formula on Spongebob.

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JLMoondog
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 16:51
Quote: "Like Plankton stealing the secret formula on Spongebob."


Greatest comparison ever.

bitJericho
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2010 20:09
First of all, Plankton tries to steal the formula from Mr. Crabs, though Spongebob often ends up caught in the middle.

Um, that's all I got.

JLMoondog
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2010 02:04
Sentence break down:
Like Plankton stealing the secret formula(comparison) on Spongebob.(setting)

IanM
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2010 15:07
Quote: "whenever they get an order they steal pizzas from your shop and then sell them at their shop cheaper"

Sure... if you can show exactly which files were copied and therefore infringed upon, then I agree.

But I repeat - I have seen no details of exactly what was copied, if anything at all. If nothing was copied, then how can copyright infringement have occurred?

Quote: "Blizzard accused Reeves of copyright infringement, unfair competition and circumvention of copyright protection systems, among other allegations. The company said Scapegaming was "well aware" that its actions were unauthorized."

Copyright infringement - of what? Show me.
Unfair competition - Huh? Providing an alternate service is illegal?
Circumvention of copyright protection systems - As I understand it, the people who connected to the server did this, not Scapegaming.
Unauthorised - So what? That pizza shop across the road doesn't have to ask permission to open their doors from your pizza shop.

bitJericho
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2010 16:14
Quote: "Sentence break down:
Like Plankton stealing the secret formula(comparison) on Spongebob.(setting)"


Oops! Missed the word "on"

Interplanetary Funk
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2010 16:16 Edited at: 23rd Aug 2010 16:18
There's probably ALOT more to this than what's been published in the media, but my understanding is she was using unlicensed software to run an unlicensed server using Blizzards property (WoW) as a means to attract business, when she had no permission to do so.

EDIT: It's like someone downloading DBPro for free and the selling their game on. They have no permission to do so thus it's illegal.

BASIC programmers never die, they GOSUB and don't RETURN.
Kumi
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Posted: 24th Aug 2010 00:39
I Feel very sorry for this Girl. Damn, 88$ Million is Alot. and If she have Kids, they have to pay the bills. I Read more into this and found out that she didint care about the server, she just sit and get the money in her bank,A GM in her server broken her DB Couse she owned him like 500 or so for the core or whatever and didint give it to him.She didint care and letted the server fall into pieces :o she got 3 mill off private server donation , now she have to pay 88 mill. and srsly thats alot..hmm i cant imagen how she feels now and what state shes in. Probebly working hours? =/

-Kumi


{Remake}
BiggAdd
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Posted: 24th Aug 2010 01:30 Edited at: 24th Aug 2010 01:33
Quote: "I Feel very sorry for this Girl"


Why? Just because Blizzard is a company, are they not entitled to regain money from damages?
How differently would you feel if instead of being Blizzard, World of Warcraft was an Indie game, and it was a team of 5 people who have lost $88 million worth of subscription fees because of this woman?


All I'm seeing in this thread is:
"Booo on the giant corporations! People who knowingly commit copyright infringement and make a profit from it are getting a bad deal, poor them."

I can pretty much guarentee Scapegaming was using Blizzard's Database, otherwise Blizzard would have sued every other private server company by now.
I can also guarentee that every single one of you would have acted in exactly the same way if you were the CEO of Blizzard, or if you found yourself in a similar situation if you made your own game.


If I sold 2 million pirate copies of Dark Basic Pro for £1.50 each, and TGC turned around and sued me for £80 million, would you feel sorry for me? Or would you be behind TGC?

Eminent
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Posted: 24th Aug 2010 01:35
I agree with BiggAdd. If I spend years making a game and released it, and found out that someone took my game and is making money off of it, then I would sue them. I wouldnt have took that much but still.


Fatal Berserker
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Posted: 24th Aug 2010 03:39 Edited at: 24th Aug 2010 06:08
To answer your question IanM.
I'm pretty sure they arnt using the direct copy of blizzards database, but for a private server to work, the database needs to be exactly the same, this is due to items ID numbers having to be the same when the client reads the database. Things like event scripts are usually created in LUA after the database has been assembled, this is usually programmed to try to match blizzards events and not actually copied.
However, there are maps files for the server which are DIRECTLY copied from the wow client, i forgot what importance these maps exactly are (since you only need the clients files to change the world), but i think it just relates to the databases zones, this is copied exactly and is a process you are required to do when you make a private server.

Also on the client side the user is changing the data files (which is against the EULA, but blizzard doesn't usually look on that if it is for legit uses, eg changing realm list from EU to USA for proper play), the datafiles being changed are the ones to change the connection to the private server instead of blizzards.

However the whole world etc of wow is saved on the client, this means it is (or used to be) editable in such a way to give you benefits in the real wow, i dont know if this person released custom patches but if she did then that would also break the EULA.

I cant remember much else about private servers, but as a disclaimer i haven't played or made a private server.


To everyone else:
And just because its a big coorperation that also means the bigger they fall, if somehow blizzard lost all its money due to these private servers, i think ud be thinking twice if your logic is that its a humans life.
1 women, or hundreds of employees...

Smoke me a kipper, ill be back for breakfast.
Diggsey
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Posted: 24th Aug 2010 11:05 Edited at: 24th Aug 2010 11:12
£88 million pounds is ridiculous for something like this:
- Are Blizzard entitled to repayment for their loss?
Yes
- Does this loss come close to £88 million?
Definitely not. The vast majority of the people playing on this free server would be people who simply do not pay for this type of game.
- Will the woman ever be able to repay anything close to £88 million?
No, so Blizzard aren't going to get their money either way.

IMO, this woman should be fined an amount equal to the profit gained in an illegal way, and then have some further punishment as a deterrent from doing it again. IE, jail for a short time or a reasonable fine.

As it stands, a serial killer would likely be completely free before this woman will be.

As for the "one woman versus hundreds of employees", that is ridiculous. An employee loses their job: they can find a new one. Yes, it is difficult and easy to get into debt, but they still can.

The woman is fined this amount of money: what's the point? She now has no incentive to go to work since she will never be able to earn anything for herself. She sent the wrong kind of signals down a wire, so now her whole life is taken away.

[b]
mgarand
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Posted: 24th Aug 2010 12:03
You knew the risks, i dont feel bad for the woman.



Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.

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