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World of Warcraft struck up some controversy earlier this year for banning a GLBT-friendly guild from game play and is now stuck in the middle of another lawsuit.
Brian Knopp is suing Blizzard Entertainment, Vivendi Universal, and the Entertainment Software Association for “improperly” stopping him from selling his “unauthorized” guide to World of Warcraft.
Knopp has been selling the guide, named “Ultimate World of Warcraft Leveling and Gold Guide”, on EBay for around $15 each since last summer. Blizzard, Vivendi, and the ESA had sent several takedown notices to EBay, claiming that Knopp’s selling of the guide infringed on the copyright of WoW due to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. EBay’s policy is not to review the notices, but to remove the seller after a certain number of takedown notices have been received against a seller.
Knopp has sued because he feels he was inappropriately banned for EBay and that his guide does not infringe on WoW’s copyright. He states that he had put a disclaimer in the front of each guide stating that the guide was not authorized by the game’s producers. The guide does not feature any copyrighted text or storylines from WoW and he feels that the screenshots from the game are “fair use” of the images.