Bossland GmbH has won a lawsuit against Blizzard Entertainment S.A.S.

[Remus3]

English text here, German below

Blizzard Entertainment S.A.S. withdraws the application for an injunction at the court of appeal that was an attempt to ban sale of "Gold" for Diablo III.

Bossland GmbH has won the lawsuit against Blizzard Entertainment S.A.S, creator of World of Warcraft and Diablo III. Blizzard had argued that the sale of virtual currency "Gold" in the game Diablo 3 is anti-competitive. The judges of the Civil Division of the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court considered this question with reference to Federal Court of Justice of Germany case law and it recommended the applicant to withdraw the application for an injunction.

On 6 May 2013 The Hamburg Regional Court had issued a temporary injunction without a hearing and thereby ruled that the defendant (Bossland GmbH) have to refrain, without the consent of the applicant to operate a gold-trading website for the game Diablo III.

On 7 May 2015 (3 U 45/14), the Civil Division of the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court disagreed with this order.The court ordered that the entire costs of the two instances of the process be paid by Blizzard Entertainment S.A.S.

"I am pleased that after many years, a Court of Appeal has finally dealt accurately and in detail with the legal assessment and the key points of the law has worked out so well for us. I am optimistic that the federal court will view our other business models as permissible." says Zwetan Letschew, CEO of Bossland GmbH expressed.

Bossland GmbH fights in different legal proceedings against Blizzard Entertainment S.A.S. and Blizzard Entertainment Inc. These proceedings have the objective of clarifying various legal questions, for example, issues of integration of EULA of software bought in shops or at online retailers and, for example, the legal status of virtual items and issues of competition law.

Bossland GmbH is represented in Cases for many years by the lawyers Marian Härtel, and Dominik Büttner and Carsten Neuhaus from the firm Kaesler & Kollegen (www.kaesler.eu).


Deutsch:


Versuch des Verkaufverbots von "Gold" in Diablo III gescheitert Blizzard Entertainment S.A.S. zieht Antrag auf einstweilige Verfügung beim Berufungsgericht zurück.

Die Bossland GmbH siegt im Rechtsstreit gegen die Blizzard Entertainment S.A.S., Anbieter u.a. der Spiele World of Warcraft und Diablo III. Der Verkauf der virtuellen Währung „Gold“ im Spiel Diablo 3 ist vorliegend nicht wettbewerbswidrig. Eine gezielte Behinderung konnte das Oberlandesgericht Hamburg hier nicht feststellen, insbesondere liegt beim Verkauf von "Gold" bzw. virtuellen Gegenständen keine gezielte Verleitung zum Vertragsbruch durch die Bossland GmbH vor.

So argumentierten die Richter des Zivilsenats des Hanseatischen Oberlandesgerichts unter Verweis auf BGH Rechtsprechung und empfahlen der Antragstellerin den Antrag auf Erlass einer einstweiligen Verfügung zurückzunehmen.

Das Landgericht Hamburg hatte, zunächst ohne mündliche Verhandlung, am 06.05.2013 eine einstweilige Verfügung erlassen und dabei entschieden, dass die Antragsgegnerin (Bossland GmbH) es zu unterlassen habe, ohne Zustimmung der Antragstellerin (Blizzard) im geschäftlichen Verkehr eine Internetseite zu betreiben, auf der Spieler des Spiels Diablo III, mit Wohnsitz in Deutschland, die virtuelle Währung „Gold“ des Spiels kaufen können (312 O 192/13) und nach Widerspruch am 04.03.2014 diese Entscheidung nach mündlicher Verhandlung bestätigt.

Am 07.05.2015 (3 U 45/14) erteilte das Zivilsenat des Hanseatischen Oberlandesgerichts der Ansicht des Landgerichts Hamburg eine klare Absage in sämtlichen Punkten. Die Kosten von beiden Instanzen des Verfahrens trägt die Blizzard Entertainment S.A.S.

"Ich bin froh, dass nach zahlreichen Jahren, ein Oberlandesgericht sich endlich zutreffend und detailliert mit der juristischen Bewertung auseinandergesetzt hat und die Kernpunkte der Rechtslage derart sauber herausgearbeitet hat. Es zeigt sich endlich doch, dass die deutsche Rechtslage Wettbewerb fördern anstatt behindern will, weswegen ich optimistisch bin, dass auch der Bundesgerichtshof unsere anderen Geschäftsmodelle als zulässig ansehen wird.", äußert sich Zwetan Letschew, Geschäftsführer der Bossland GmbH.

Die Bossland GmbH kämpft in verschiedenen Verfahren gegen die Blizzard Entertainment S.A.S. und die Blizzard Entertainment Inc. wobei ein Verfahren sich im Stadium der Revision vor dem Bundesgerichtshof befindet, in einem weiteren wurde Nichtzulassungsbeschwerde vor dem Bundesgerichtshof eingelegt. Diese Verfahren haben es als Ziel, Klarheit über diverse Rechtslagen zu schaffen. Dabei geht es unter anderem um Fragen der Einbindung von AGB von Software beim Kauf in Ladengeschäften oder bei Onlinehändlern, um die juristische Bewertung von virtuellen Gegenständen sowie um Fragen des Wettbewerbsrechts von Dienstleistern, die sich im Umfeld von Onlinespielen etabliert haben und diverse Zusatzdienstleistungen, Services oder Produkte anbieten wollen, die nicht direkt von den Anbieter der Onlinespiele stammen.

Die Bossland GmbH wird in den Rechtssachen seit vielen Jahren von den Rechtsanwälten Marian Härtel, sowie Dominik Büttner und Carsten Neuhaus aus der Kanzlei Kaesler & Kollegen (www.kaesler.eu), vertreten.

source ::: https://www.thebuddyforum.com/the-bu...rtainment.html


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It seems minor when reading it but considering how long Blizzard has been at it, it feels like a major step. Is it in the right direction with enough push for the other products? maybe..and some will think maybe not.... but its definitely nice to see something/anything coming from it.

give your thoughts below

[CreativeXtent]

Down with the mannnnnn!!!!

[Nyarly]

Now that's a good news !
Looks huge too, i hope it helps people play, using the game they paid for, at their will.

[D3Boost]

Many might consider this a step in the right direction (debatable). But look at how much time it took to get to that decision.

Gold trading was disabled on the 26th of February 2014.

The court ruled in favor of Bossland GmbH on the 7th of May 2015.

So...Bossland fought for 2 years, cool they won the lawsuit but that's about it. Blizzard still gets the last word since they had already disabled gold trading way earlier.

Besides, buying / selling gold through RMAH was so much easier, safer and faster.

I'd be very surprised if anyone even attempts to file a lawsuit for WoW. Blizzard has been going after gold selling companies for quite some time now, the first one that comes to mind is Peons4Hire.

[Jaerin]

It's not a win, it is just Blizzard giving up on a fight that has no benefit of winning. This likely doesn't set any kind of precedence for any potential future action from Blizzard against Bossland.

Its not like it cost Blizzard money likely. They usually have attorney's on retainer and have to pay for them whether they litigating something or not.

[husobaba1903]

Blizz has gotten his revenge anyway.

[Sweetangel1988]

Official Blizzard Statement : 100 000 + accounts get Banned .

[jimmyamd]

OR bossland singed a contract letting them keep all profits and no further lawsuits etc and all they needed to do is give them honorbuddy coding so everyone who uses it can get banned.

[OnehitB]

OR bossland singed a contract letting them keep all profits and no further lawsuits etc and all they needed to do is give them honorbuddy coding so everyone who uses it can get banned.

we won't ever know

[Remus3]

you realize this was said a while back too --- it is as it is .. i wouldnt doubt they had people flagged and just waiting to do something with it. it isnt rocket science to differentiate people from bots.

also they need to show dominance in this subject matter because of the lawsuit and pissing "normal" users off that the bots won something no matter how small.

[geilon]

good news!!

[VesperCore]

They usually have attorney's on retainer and have to pay for them whether they litigating something or not.

Blizzard "S.A.S" may have a legal department, but they use private attorney to defend their causes for issues like that, I can assure you.

I received a letter from one of the biggest attorney in paris when I first released TheNoobBot 2 years ago. And this attorney do not work for free, that letter may have cost them thousands of euros.


By the way, Blizzard "S.A.S" is just a french entity rulling in europe activities of Blizzard, the real deal is with Blizzard registred in Delaware USA.


Their legal department is just there to edit their EULA, answers to snail mails, and probably handling low priority contracts.

[lovoo]

nice step in right way.