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The Interaction between Copyright, Contracts, and the DMCA 583
3.) The Interaction between Copyright, Contracts, and the DMCA
MDY Industries, LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
629 F.3d 928 (9th Cir. 2010)
CALLAHAN, Circuit Judge.
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (“Blizzard”) is the creator of World of Warcraft
(“WoW”), a popular multiplayer online role-playing
game in which players interact in a virtual world
while advancing through the game’s 70 levels. MDY
Industries, LLC and its sole member Michael
Donnelly (“Donnelly”) (. . . “MDY”) developed and
sold Glider, a software program that automatically
plays the early levels of WoW for players.
MDY brought this action for a declaratory
judgment to establish that its Glider sales do not infringe
Blizzard’s copyright or other rights, and
Blizzard asserted counterclaims under the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), 17 U.S.C.
§ 1201 et seq., and for tortious interference with
contract under Arizona law. The district court found
MDY and Donnelly liable for secondary copyright
infringement, violations of DMCA §§ 1201(a)(2) and
(b)(1), and tortious interference with contract. We
reverse the district court except as to MDY’s liability
for violation of DMCA § 1201(a)(2) and remand for
trial on Blizzard’s claim for tortious interference with
contract.
A. World of Warcraft
I.
Image information available at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WoW
_Box_Art1.jpg.
In November 2004, Blizzard created WoW, a “massively multiplayer online roleplaying
game” in which players interact in a virtual world. WoW has ten million
subscribers, of which two and a half million are in North America. The WoW software
has two components: (1) the game client software that a player installs on the computer;
and (2) the game server software, which the player accesses on a subscription basis by
connecting to WoW’s online servers. WoW does not have single-player or offline modes.
WoW players roleplay different characters, such as humans, elves, and dwarves. A
player’s central objective is to advance the character through the game’s 70 levels by
participating in quests and engaging in battles with monsters. As a player advances, the
character collects rewards such as ingame currency, weapons, and armor. WoW’s virtual
world has its own economy, in which characters use their virtual currency to buy and sell
items directly from each other, through vendors, or using auction houses. Some players
also utilize WoW’s chat capabilities to interact with others.