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>Court rules Apple software is only licensed on Apple hardware
>As we have been covering, Apple brought a suit asserting copyright infringement stemming from PsyStar’s sales of non-Apple-Labeled computers with Apple’s operating system. This case presents interesting questions about hardware restrictions placed into EULAs and the viability of a copyright misuse defense based on those restrictions. Last Friday, a Northern District of California court put forth its attempt to answer some of these questions, ruling that Apple could restrict its license of Apple Software through its EULA to only allow installation on Apple-Labeled computers. The court believed the EULA language was a permissible restriction on the use copyrighted software itself, and not an impermissible tying restriction on a good or service outside of the monopoly granted by copyright. The court indicated that Apple could control the use of its copyrighted software through its EULA as long as consumers were not prohibited from using third-party operating systems or buying third-party hardware.In… Continue Reading
>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… Continue Reading
>More on Games and the Economy
>GameStop game out with its sales information for 2008. The game store had a 24 percent year-over-year increase, with sales of $8.8 billion. GameStop is expecting sales growth of 10% to 12% in 2009 and anticipates opening more than 400 new stores. In my previous post on the economy, we were using the sales numbers for one of the largest publishers of video games. With the release of these numbers, GameStop is also saying that it expects to outperform the retail sector in 2009.What I wonder about these sales numbers is the impact of used game sales. Publishers certainly like to keep the life of the game as prolonged as possible, and used sales can certainly help in that regard. On the flip side, a used game sale puts money into GameStop’s coffers and not into the coffers of the publisher/developer, which can lead to efforts such as what Epic… Continue Reading
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