If you are a World of Warcraft fan you may have considered the practice of “gold farming” – accumulating online wealth through what can charitably be described as "shortcuts." If this is the case, you may have also purchased a copy of Brian Kopp,s “The Ultimate World of Warcraft Leveling and Gold Guide,” which many consider one of the definitive works on getting ahead in WoW.
But not everyone was pleased with Kopp,s work, especially Blizzard, the publishers of World of Warcraft. Earlier this year, Blizzard filed a lawsuit against Kopp, citing infringement of their intellectual property as the basis of their legal action against Kopp,s book. Blizzard then filed for a “take-down” notice on eBay, where the book was being sold, and had Kopp,s accounts closed and his ads for the book removed. Kopp took action himself and filed a counter lawsuit against Blizzard and claimed that he was not in violation of any copyright laws because of the disclaimer found in the front of his book declaring that his manual was not an authorized work.
The case has been settled out of court and Blizzard has agreed to take no further actions in preventing Kopp from selling his manual. Blizzard has also agreed not to file any more take down notices on eBay regarding Kopp,s book. Greg Beck, attorney for Kopp, said, “It’s pretty much the equivalent of showing up at your store one morning and finding your goods on the curb with nothing you can do about it. They (eBay) get so many notices of claimed infringement that they can’t investigate all claims."
Kopp has agreed not to list links in his manual to the various websites which post cheats to the World of Warcraft game. No monetary awards were given to Kopp in the settlement.
