Blizzard drops "playing guide" lawsuit

Blizzard have backed down from their claims of copyright infringment over publication of player guides...

CNet News have reported that Blizzard have reached an out-of-court settlement with Florida man Brian Kopp, who they were emboiled in a lawsuit with over his sales on EBay of a Warcraft Levelling Guide.

A Florida man who claimed he'd been unlawfully blocked from selling copies of his unofficial "World of Warcraft" guide by the wildly popular game's makers can resume his sales, owing to an out-of-court settlement reached Friday.

Brian Kopp, 24, had filed suit in March against California-based Blizzard Entertainment, parent company Vivendi Universal and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). The complaint alleged that those organizations were wrong to order eBay to terminate auctions of his book "The Ultimate World of Warcraft Leveling & Gold Guide," of which he had sold hundreds of copies since last August at about $15 apiece.

Alleging the book violated intellectual-property laws, Blizzard, Vivendi and the ESA sent repeated take-down notices, provided for by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), to eBay. The auction giant's general policy is to halt auctions when it receives such notices and to suspend a user's account after it racks up a certain number of warnings.

Read the rest of this article! Also, take a look at the original story which was posted on our website earlier this year here!