Blizzard v. MDY Update: $6.5 Million Judgment Stands, Appeal is Imminent

If botting on World of Warcraft can get you a 48 hour ban, what does coding a bot and selling it to thousands of other players get you? The answer (for now) appears to be a $6.5 million dollar penalty. We’ve referenced the Blizzard v. MDY case in a few previous entries here at LiaGW. The latest ruling has come down from the Arizona District Court.

As you may recall, the case went to a bench trial on the issue of damages, and the Court awarded $6.5 million to Blizzard back in January, along with a permanent injunction on the sale of Glider. After trial, Blizzard argued that under the DMCA, it was entitled to between $200 and $2,500 for each violation, so MDY should be liable for at least $24 million. MDY countered that the $6.5 million judgment should be decreased based on the “innocent violators” provision under the DMCA.

Well, last Wednesday, the District Court rejected both contentions, and upheld the initial $6.5 million in damages. We're getting closer to seeing this matter come to a close, but we'll keep everyone posted in the event that an appeal is filed.

For a recap of the case, please follow the jump.


The company MDY (which appears to be just one person, Michael Donnelly) makes a program called “Glider” for World of Warcraft players. Rather than spend hundreds of hours of playtime to level-up an avatar, some World of Warcraft players instead pay twenty-five dollars for Glider, which essentially plays the game on autopilot.

Blizzard Entertainment was apparently not happy with players running Glider, resulting in a suit in the Arizona District Court. Blizzard contended that the use of Glider alienates legitimate players who think Glider players are cheaters and also reduces Blizzard’s revenue by allowing Glider players to more quickly level-up their avatars and acquire rare assets. MDY responded that the Glider software actually enhances the player’s experience by removing the tedium, and encourages more casual gamers to purchase World of Warcraft without fear they would never be able to complete with more dedicated players.

The license language in the World of Warcraft End User License Agreement (“EULA”) prohibits the use of bot software running simultaneously with Blizzard’s software. Blizzard made a direct copyright infringement claim that relied heavily on an earlier Ninth Circuit holding that copyright infringement may be proved in software cases by showing an unauthorized reproduction of a copyrighted software program in a player’s RAM. Blizzard claimed that this license to copy its software into RAM is expressly conditioned on compliance with the contractual restriction prohibiting bot software. Blizzard argued that, because the EULA did not permit a RAM copy of the World of Warcraft software when Glider was also running on the same computer, Glider players were infringing Blizzard’s copyright in the World of Warcraft software by copying it without a license. Blizzard then could sue MDY on a theory of secondary liability for Glider players’ direct copyright infringement, since MDY induced those players to create the unlicensed RAM copies of the World of Warcraft software.

After considering the arguments, the Arizona District Court agreed with Blizzard. The Court found that because use of the World of Warcraft software in conjunction with Glider falls outside the scope of EULA, Glider players therefore infringe Blizzard’s copyright. The Court accordingly granted summary judgment in favor of Blizzard with respect to liability on its secondary infringement claims against the MDY. Following a bench trial on the issue of damages, the Court awarded a $6.5 million judgment to Blizzard back in January, along with a permanent injunction on the sale of Glider.