Glider (MDY Industries) vs Blizzard Entertainment - Legal Update (Good news!)

[ocktra]

Hello there, mmowned people. Ocktra from MDY here.. just spreading the partially good news about Glider.

The 9th Circuit ruled today on the case we're all so curious about. It's a rather long and complicated order, and it's one that will take some time to fully analyze.

From my initial unfrozen caveman lawyering I believe:

- Blizzard lost on the copyright claim, despite Vernor losing before us. I'm amazed at this, but I think it's great for the free market. The court pretty much says you can't use terms in a contract to force behavior under threat of copyright infringement. That is a huge loss for Blizzard.

- MDY lost on part of the DMCA claim regarding the "non-literal" elements of the game and Warden. The court didn't want to adopt the Federal Circuit's standard on circumvention + infringement. Ironically, we probably would have that claim if we sold out of Washington DC. Seems like something the highest court should iron out, given the differences in circuits...

- Tortious got sent back and should be a jury trial. Neither party won that one, other than our respective attorneys.

- The permanent injunction might be off for selling Glider... or it might just be for me to sell it if I wanted to without MDY Industries. It's confusing to me, but some smarter guys will figure it out. Bottom line: there's a slight chance Glider might go on sale again, but don't get your hopes up.

I'm sure there will be a lot of analysis on this from various legal blogs, so keep an eye on EFF and Public Knowledge and so forth.

As an aside, the court seemed much more sympathetic to me than the district court. They understood that Glider was not a violation of the EULA when I started selling and they took issue with Blizzard trying to use the contract as a weapon. Overall, it's pretty good - but the DMCA thing might be a loss.

What's next?
No idea. All the lawyers are gonna need time to parse this out and see what to do. Could be sit around and wait for district court, could be some way to settle, could be sell Glider again... when we start to do something, I'll post.

TL;DR
Seriously, read it.

Download link
http://mmoglider.com/legal/Dec_14_2010_Opinion.pdf

-Mercury on the Glider forums

What does this mean?

• Mercury is no longer considered personally liable for the money owned to Blizzard.. rather this is to be determined in another lawsuit at the state level (probably a jury trial).
• We lost on the DMCA part.. but the 9th circuit ruling directly contradicts another ruling in another circuit court. Legal experts are saying that we're probably going to supreme court with the DMCA issue.
• Glider may or may not be live again in the near future! The lawyers are working through it now.. but it looks like MDY might be able to operate again very soon. Glider may be coming back. This isn't a guarantee.. but we'll know within a few days. I'll post that news here.

Feel free to ask any questions here.. Glider FTW!

[CronoSword]

Good to here! Hope it comes back!

[Vragoth]

This is actually quite intriguing, but dont get your hopes up

[Arutha532]

I hope you come back

[Clovian]

Love you ocktra.

"there's a slight chance Glider might go on sale again, but don't get your hopes up."

To late.

[burton992]

great news but with honorbuddy running so smooth, will people be intrested in glider again?

[1337php]

great news but with honorbuddy running so smooth, will people be intrested in glider again?

I'd start botting again if glider came back. All other bots out right now seem like toys in comparison.

[panYama]

I'd start botting again if glider came back. All other bots out right now seem like toys in comparison.

not true, since glider left there where a lot of crap bots out there True! but right now HB/GB dominates by far and already has more options then Glider did. That aside it will be good to see Glider back on the market. hope you do well with DMCA part.

[Innit]

Best TLDR ever! good news!

[Sychotix]

Best TLDR ever! good news!

agreed, on both points =)

I find it amazing that something like this may be going to the supreme court. That is just... awesome. I wish you guys goodluck.

[Clovian]

If glider comes back I dont doubt they will be upgrading it to compete with HB/GB, Merc isn't dumb and has a lot of loyal users that would come back if he had glider up and running again.

[Kortwa]

Good to hear some progress was made. Hope it works out well for glider.

[bozeman]

good luck and i hope glider is back online real soon $$ for me. i didn't care for hb or gb and still don't

[Uniqe]

Would start using it again without a doubt!

[foxlin]

If glider continues. I'll start playing WoW again!