Blizzard Wins Video Game DMCA Suit

First, the decision [pdf].

CNet News reports:

A federal appeals court has ruled that computer programmers do not have the right to reverse-engineer Blizzard Entertainment's video games to improve their playability.

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis ruled Thursday that federal law--specifically, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act--disallows players from altering Blizzard games to link with servers other than the company's official Battle.net site.

Video Game Law Blog adds:

When the defendants agreed to Blizzard's Terms of Use and End User Licence Agreement, the defendants contractually agreed not to reverse engineer any of Blizzard's software. The Court of Appeal ruled that this contract was binding and enforceable, and that the defendants had breached it. Also, the Court of Appeal ruled that the defendants had breached the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision.

Donna Wentworth comments:

The DMCA, which is supposed to protect copyright without harming innovation, has a clause specifically exempting reverse engineering. But as today's ruling proves, it's far too narrow and weak to protect third-party innovators.

EFF adds:

"This ruling is bad for gamers, but it could also be terrible for the software industry," said EFF Staff Attorney Jason Schultz. "It essentially shuts down any competitor's add-on innovation that customers could enjoy with their legitimately purchased products. Add-on innovation is one of the hottest areas of creativity and economic growth right now in software, and this decision will slow investment and development in that field."

Finally, from Techdirt:

As some are noting, this seems to go directly against what the backers of the DMCA originally claimed about it: that it would protect copyrights without harming innovation. It's hard to see what this has to do with protecting copyrights however.

More: Silicon Valley Media Law Blog (including an excellent background and summary of the case).

Prior post:
    June 20, 2005 - Blizzard v. BNETD DMCA Case: Oral Arguments Today.