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10.2.5
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Hosting WOW and BC Client
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Post by
jure12
it's almost certainly illegal unless you've obtained permission.
I wonder if first wow databases had written permission by Blizzard when they started...
Blizzard's well being is highly dependent on wow community, not sure the game would be so popular without a place like this to make things MUCH easier.
Anyway, I'd say that writing a letter to Blizzard, and making all of this heard about on their forums is the way to go.
30.000 euro is a lot of money, and I think it is worth kind of media-war. I'm sure that many websites would gladly help in this case, wowinsider.com comes to mind, but there are tons of them.
I'm from Serbia, and wow-serbia.com is an
official
wow fan site, and maybe you could contact
http://www.wow-serbia.com/contact/stevan-mitrovic/
(or post on forum, registration is immediate and free) to see if he has a written permission from Blizzard to host their files or not (maybe it is part of being fan site, or maybe he just hosts it like all websites do), because he
hosts
them (like so many other websites do).
TBH, the whole case is charade and would never pass in any EU country, people hosts everything wow-related all the time, Blizzard loves it, all works as a charm (edit: until someone abuses EE countries' systems)
Post by
cuccu
http://eu.blizzard.com/en/legalfaq.html
Can I put your patches and demos on my web site for download?
Yes. We allow non-commercial mirroring of our patches and demos, so long as you do not alter the patches or demos in any way, and all files included with the original patch or demo are present and intact. Blizzard Entertainment® reserves the right to refuse permission to host or distribute our patches and demos to anyone, for any reason, at any time.
Post by
jure12
http://eu.blizzard.com/en/legalfaq.html
Can I put your patches and demos on my web site for download?
Yes. We allow non-commercial mirroring of our patches and demos, so long as you do not alter the patches or demos in any way, and all files included with the original patch or demo are present and intact. Blizzard Entertainment® reserves the right to refuse permission to host or distribute our patches and demos to anyone, for any reason, at any time.
Hm... I'm no legal expert, but saying this on official website seems to be as much legally obligable as actually hosting all of it.
It says patches and demos, but I'd say the same is for client, otherwise they would use their "right to refuse permission to host".
Post by
cuccu
Im still waiting for a reply from Blizzard, nothing yet.
I did some more research and i realized that basically the client that we hosted can be very well asimilated as a "demo" as long as it needs more updates from Blizzard itself.
Post by
152121
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
cuccu
I will find more tommorow, exactly how the police is seeing this thing and i will post here the updates.
Post by
syberghost
Still, where is Blizzard saying that its illegal to do it ? I mean, you have to make an ac&*!@ on their webpage, you have to buy a cdkey from them.
You have a fundamental misunderstanding about copyright law. Unless they have granted you the right to distribute their stuff, you don't have it, and each copy you distribute is a separate crime in most Western countries. In the US and some others, it's a separate felony per copy.
Post by
syberghost
Still, where is Blizzard saying that its illegal to do it ? I mean, you have to make an ac&*!@ on their webpage, you have to buy a cdkey from them.
It would be absurd to think that every single website in this world that mirrors games, demos, full clients have permission from the developers. Its in developer's interest to have their file spread to as many people as possible, at the smallest cost possible. And again, there is nothing against it in EULA or TOS.
Copyright law is the default, and the default is that you can't copy anything without permission. Regardless of how absurd this is.
http://eu.blizzard.com/en/legalfaq.html
does look like it grants you permission, which is going to make for an interesting lawsuit.
Nope; they specifically say your license for downloaded content is non-transferrable and non-assignable.
Post by
cuccu
Then all websites in the world need a written agreement when they mirror demos, patches, client files ? Its absurd.
Post by
cuccu
So, they claim that ive put 2 GAMES at download, and they want 20.000 EURO, dropped from initial 30.000 EURO.
Post by
84594
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
cuccu
Definately is something personal from local law company, in order to protect share market of the local vivendi dealer. I mean, Blizzard is using torrents and any other means possible to have the client spread to as many people as possible, because in the end everyone have to pay them to play the game. I'll post here once there is more info.
Post by
152121
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
jure12
Then all websites in the world need a written agreement when they mirror demos, patches, client files ? Its absurd.
That's the way it is, unless you've got a notice that says otherwise.
I put $1000 that you made that up on spot.
edit: this is one of the rare topics that had some potential to actually hold some maturity, but ended up the only possible way for wow community.
Post by
233266
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
236839
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
cuccu
They dropped acusations related to WOW client, they refer now only to WOWBC Client.
Post by
bwirum
I'm thinking what someone else did up here, that they're basically hoping you'll crumble under pressure and just pay up some sum of money.
I'd write a letter to Blizzard though, or better - have an attorney do it for you so you get all the correct lawyer "mumbo-jumbo" in it, refering to the legal faq and the fact that tons and tons of other websites are doing the same thing, even that Blizzard is making sure to spread the download themselves with the torrent downloading they're using for patches.
I can't see how they'll ever have a case here anyhow, but better safe than sorry.
Post by
128491
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
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