eBayer files lawsuit against Blizzard

Brian Kopp, the author of “The Ultimate World of Warcraft Levelling & Gold Guide,” has filed a lawsuit against Blizzard Entertainment, Vivendi Universal, and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), claiming that they were wrong to force eBay to remove auctions for the game guide.

Since August, 2005 Kopp has sold several hundred copies of his guide on eBay at around $15 a go. In the weeks following the guide’s appearance on eBay, Blizzard, Vivendi, and the ESA began to send takedown notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to the auction giant. Kopp responded to these notices, protesting the claims and, as is eBay policy, gave the respective companies 14 days in which to respond. No response was given so eBay allowed the auctions to remain open.

This changed in November when eBay had received sufficient takedown warnings to warrant the suspension of Kopp’s account. Attempts by Kopp to begin selling under a different name proved futile and quickly earned him a suspension. Blizzard, Vivendi and the ESA then went on to threaten Kopp with copyright and trademark infringement action, with a Blizzard exec stating that Kopp could not legally sell a guide which “attempts to trade off the substantial goodwill and recognition that Blizzard has built up in connection with its World of Warcraft product.“

Kopp argues that his game guide does not infringe copyrights, stating that the guide is clearly marked with a disclaimer of its unauthorized content, it contains no copyrighted text or storylines from the game, and makes “fair use” of screenshots.

Paul Levy, of the public-interest advocacy group Public Citizen, said that if the actions taken are upheld, “then selling a how-to book about Microsoft Word would infringe Microsoft’s copyright, especially if the book contained one or more screenshots of Word’s user interface.“

Kopp is seeking monetary compensation to cover the profits lost from lack of sales, and continues to sell the guide through a personal website.