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Advanced Copyright Issues on the Internet - Fenwick & West LLP

Advanced Copyright Issues on the Internet - Fenwick & West LLP

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within <strong>the</strong> games <strong>the</strong>mselves,” which seems to mean that <strong>the</strong>re was particular code within <strong>the</strong>Blizzard games that allowed <strong>the</strong>m to operate in Battle.net mode and communicate with <strong>the</strong>Battle.net servers. 634The Battle.net service was designed to prohibit access and use of Battle.net mode byunauthorized or pirated copies of Blizzard games. In particular, in order to log <strong>on</strong> to <strong>the</strong>Battle.net service and access Battle.net mode, <strong>the</strong> Blizzard games were designed to initiate anau<strong>the</strong>nticati<strong>on</strong> sequence or “secret handshake” between <strong>the</strong> game and <strong>the</strong> Battle.net server based<strong>on</strong> <strong>the</strong> “CD Key” of <strong>the</strong> game, a unique sequence of alphanumeric characters that was printed <strong>on</strong>a sticker attached to <strong>the</strong> case in which each game was packaged. The game would pass <strong>the</strong> CDKey to <strong>the</strong> Battle.net server, which would verify its validity and determine whe<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong> same CDKey was already being used by ano<strong>the</strong>r game that was currently logged <strong>on</strong> to <strong>the</strong> server. If <strong>the</strong>CD Key was determined to be valid by <strong>the</strong> server and not already in use, <strong>the</strong> server would send asignal to <strong>the</strong> game allowing it to enter <strong>the</strong> Battle.net mode and to use <strong>the</strong> Battle.net gamingservices. 635In order to install a copy of a Blizzard game, <strong>the</strong> user was required to click acceptance ofa clickwrap license agreement that prohibited reverse engineering of <strong>the</strong> software and thatrequired <strong>the</strong> user to agree to <strong>the</strong> Terms of Use of <strong>the</strong> Battle.net service, which prohibitedemulati<strong>on</strong> or redirecti<strong>on</strong> of <strong>the</strong> communicati<strong>on</strong> protocols used by Blizzard as part of Battle.netservice for any purpose. 636The defendants developed a server, known as <strong>the</strong> bnetd server, that was designed toemulate <strong>the</strong> Battle.net service so as to allow players to play <strong>the</strong>ir Blizzard games in an <strong>on</strong>linemulti-player mode through <strong>the</strong> bnetd server. 637 In order to develop <strong>the</strong> bnetd server, <strong>the</strong>defendants had to reverse engineer <strong>the</strong> Blizzard games to learn <strong>the</strong> Battle.net protocol. Inadditi<strong>on</strong>, because Blizzard games were designed to c<strong>on</strong>nect <strong>on</strong>ly to Battle.net servers, <strong>the</strong>defendants had to modify a computer file in <strong>the</strong> Blizzard games c<strong>on</strong>taining <strong>the</strong> <strong>Internet</strong> addressof <strong>the</strong> Battle.net servers so as to cause <strong>the</strong> games to c<strong>on</strong>nect to a bnetd server instead. Thedefendants distributed a utility known as “BNS” that modified such file and caused Blizzardgames to c<strong>on</strong>nect to <strong>the</strong> bnetd server ra<strong>the</strong>r than <strong>the</strong> Battle.net server. Once c<strong>on</strong>nected to <strong>the</strong>bnetd server through <strong>the</strong> modified <strong>Internet</strong> address file, a Blizzard game would send its CD Keyto <strong>the</strong> bnetd server. When <strong>the</strong> bnetd server received <strong>the</strong> CD Key, unlike Battle.net, it did notdetermine whe<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong> CD Key was valid or currently in use by ano<strong>the</strong>r player. Instead, <strong>the</strong>bnetd server would always send <strong>the</strong> game an “okay” reply. Thus, both authorized as well asunauthorized or pirated copies of Blizzard games could be played in <strong>on</strong>line mode through <strong>the</strong>bnetd server. 638634635636637638Id.Id. at 1169.Id. at 1169-71.Id. at 1172.Id. at *1172-73.- 153 -

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