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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreanni of WarcraftPets.com closes store, posts apology to Blizzard
by Mike Schramm 
May 19th 2009 at 3:00PM
The amazing Breanni of WarcraftPets.com, once loved so much by Blizzard that he got immortalized in the game, has apparently gotten another of Blizzard's C&Ds. First, we saw iPhone apps pulled off of the App Store with what seemed like legal action, and then we heard that webcomic Shakes and Fidget was contacted by Blizzard legal, and now Breanni has pulled down his merchandise store, as well as posted a "formal apology" to Blizzard. Breanni doesn't say exactly what happened, but he says that he "became aware" that what he was selling was violating Blizzard's trademark policy, and calls the store a "lapse in judgment," and says that he hopes to "continue to recieve Blizzard's blessing." It's almost like hearing one side of the conversation -- we don't know what Blizzard said to him (if anything), but he definitely sounds spooked.This is a slightly different issue from the other C&Ds we've seen -- Breanni was making money from selling what we presume were actual images of Blizzard's copyrights and trademarks, so a store like that is pretty plainly in violation of copyright law (Mania's Pets calendar, for example, uses fan art rather than actual screenshots). But what's interesting here is, if they did contact him, why Blizzard has decided to do this now, and why they've only moved against Breanni. There are certainly lots of other places to find Blizzard art printed on products for sale. We're not suggesting that Blizzard should just let it all go, obviously, but why now?
We've had requests for comment out to Blizzard ever since the first few iPhone apps were pulled off of the App Store about all of this recent C&D action, and we've added this one to the stack. If we hear anything back from them, we'll let you know.
[Thanks, John E!]
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Blizzard, News items, Fan art
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Seaborn Sep 1st 2009 3:38PM
You would be amazed at what companies like Blizzard will do. Even if it is not an infringement, do you think a "blogger" just trying to make a buck is going to roll up the sleeves and tussle with a company that can throw large money into a fight. Blizzard, any company of the type knows this. They may be pushing territory they have no business pushing but they can and will get away with it. It's a damn shame, but it still wont change.
Seaborn May 20th 2009 7:51PM
I am getting pretty tired of blizzard putting its foot on the little mans throat.
I hope for a new game to draw my attention soon.
Cat May 19th 2009 3:15PM
"Can I make and sell my own products (T-shirts, card games, models/figures, etc.) based on a Blizzard universe?
No. Blizzard Entertainment® does not enter into licensing agreements with individuals. To ensure the quality of all Blizzard products, all of our merchandise is created under a licensing agreement and all prospective licensees are thoroughly reviewed by Blizzard Entertainment before a license is granted. If you are a company that is interested in creating licensed merchandise and your company is looking to pursue a corporate licensing relationship with Blizzard Entertainment, please contact Merchandiselicensing@Blizzard.com. "
- Blizzard's Legal FAQ: http://www.blizzard.com/us/legalfaq.html
It looks like Mania's calendar isn't safe either :/
Or much of anything else, for that matter.
Yada May 19th 2009 3:18PM
Before you all get all self-righteously indignant about The Big Company Squashing The Poor Little Guy, take a giant step back and consider the simple legal reality:
Trademarks and copyrights only exist for as long as you defend them. Basically this means you must USE your trademarks in order to maintain your claim on them, and you must DEFEND your copyrights when they are infringed. It really doesn't matter whether you really care about some little retailer using your mark on their merchandise or not—what matters is if you don't tell them to stop, and back it up with legal action if they don't stop, then you risk losing all legal claim to said mark or copyright.
Yes, the rules vary from country to country, but in general, that's the gist of it. Blizzard cannot turn a blind eye to infringements, whether they really care or not.
And for you trivia fans, this is why the big car makers never let a car model name die. Every so often, they stick things like "Envoy" or "Firenza" on some new model, because if they don't, they will lose their claim to that name, and regardless of whether they really think they'll ever seriously use it again, they won't let the library of marks die. At this point, probably anyone can produce a car called "Edsel" and Ford wouldn't be able to squawk.
Artificial May 19th 2009 3:31PM
"Trademarks and copyrights only exist for as long as you defend them."
Trademarks, you mean. Copyrights exist and are enforceable for a much longer period of time and are never lost no matter how lax your enforcement is. You can give away a copyrighted work for 20 years, spend the next 20 years not giving it away but blatantly ignoring all the piracy, and then sue the next guy to infringes without any loss at all whatsoever of your legal rights under copyright law.
Sticking then to trademarks: "...what matters is if you don't tell them to stop, and back it up with legal action if they don't stop, then you risk losing all legal claim to said mark or copyright."
This too is false. You risk losing all legal claim if you just ignore it and do nothing. But there's nothing in trademark law that requires you to "tell them to stop". You can just as easily grant them limited license to use your trademarks. Either move protects the legal status of your trademarks just as well.
The issue is not that they did something, they needed to do *something*. The issue is what they did, and contrary to what you said, they most certainly did not need to do what they did.
Yada May 19th 2009 3:39PM
You are partially correct. As I said, I was speaking generally and the rules vary between jurisdictions. However your reading of copyright law may be true in your particular jurisdiction, but I can assure you that in many cases, if you do not defend copyright, it will lapse into the public domain. The dividing line is whether you know of the breach or not, and what you do about it at that point. It also depends on exactly what your copyright says, but most are blanket no-use statements.
As for trademarks (and copyrights too for that matter), you are correct that the holder is able to grant license to use them to third parties. The point is that kind of license is almost never given on a blanket basis, and on individual bases, never given casually and without recompense. The simple reason for that is that giving someone license to use your rights costs you money, even if it's nothing but the manpower time in your company to arrange it. Few companies are so benevolent as to spend their own resources giving away their rights to unrelated third parties.
Ktok May 19th 2009 4:44PM
Thank god someone knows the law...
Recently had to take a course on this very same subject matter due to the company I work for having several fiercely defended trademarks. You are exactly right. They have to defend it, or they lose it. They also *can* issue a license, but doing so is a lengthy process and generally not worth it. An exception to this would be what you see at Swagdog and Figure Prints.
Folks need to ease off the rage and accept that Blizzard is a company out to make money, and part of that is defending trademarks. If you were in their place, you'd do the same. If someone thinks they wouldn't, well, it's unlikely that person would ever get far enough in the business world to have to worry about it.
dameblanche May 20th 2009 5:55AM
Although I am a huge fan of conspiracy theories and take great satisfaction in political debates about big companies bullying the little man in the street, there might be a simple and less terrifying reason why Blizz/Activision suddenly is very busy with copyright issues.
I recently started legal action towards a publisher of a few books my mother has written. She passed away four and a half years ago and we (her children and heirs) found out that this publisher is still making money off her books and has even rewritten one after her death. When we started consulting a lawyer about this, he told us that we were just in time. Because under Dutch law you have to claim your copyright within 5 years, or otherwise you will lose the right to legal action. It's called something like silent consent; by not complaining or asking for royalties within this period of 5 years, you actually give permission to the offender to use your material.
I don't know how US law works, or international copyright laws, but Blizzard might simply be busy with claiming their copyright on certain things within the amount of time they are legally allowed to take action. Shakes&Fidget and warcraftpets have been around for years, so it might be just a case of slapping them on the wrist before it is too late.
And they are not even doing this in the most terrible way they could: the publisher I am suing, will have to pay me and my sisters a hefty sum of money. Blizz is just telling people to stop making money with their trademark. There is nothing horrible or unusual about that.
Amaxe May 19th 2009 3:19PM
I could be wrong, but I wonder if merchandise with the word warcraft in it (like the items with warcraftpets.com) are part of the action.
Not sure how broad such an action could be but it struck me when I was reading the replies
(This is Amaxe btw, but since WI won't let me update my email address I needed to change my ID for the site)
Amaxe May 19th 2009 3:20PM
wtb a forum that does not convert my new address to my old one
Virusz May 19th 2009 3:20PM
If this is Activision...
Arlys May 19th 2009 3:20PM
Sadly, in big companies, legal departments don't always consult with developers before making their moves (just as marketing departments don't always confer with customer service representatives). I'd guess that Blizzard's lawyers are following their standard operating procedure, with little regard for their targets' relationship with the community, or even other Blizzard departments.
While it is important for Blizzard to maintain and assert their trademarks, I'd like to think that one of the developers ran up and pounded a lawyer's desk over this. I'm sure a quiet word to the wise would have been plenty for Breanni, and I hope their legal department learns to show a little more discretion.
theRaptor May 19th 2009 3:30PM
Sorry but lawyers are higher up the food chain than developers. I wouldn't be surprised, given the acquisition by Activision, that the legal department was no longer 'Blizzard' (this is what "synergy" is, you get rid of the duplicate backroom people), and so would be much higher up the corporate hierarchy. The money people run things, not the creative people.
Arlys May 19th 2009 3:50PM
theRaptor, nothing in my post was meant to suggest otherwise. I will add, however, that well-run companies hoping to thrive pay close attention to the synergies between departments, and between their customers and themselves.
Jay in Oregon May 19th 2009 3:53PM
"The money people run things, not the creative people."
The current state of our economy would suggest that maybe things would be better off if this was not always the case.
theRaptor May 19th 2009 3:26PM
Uh, it is pretty simple. Blizzard is obviously moving at the moment to push even further into the mass market as their previous expansion has stalled. And that includes finding new sources of revenue from licensed products (I mean they have less products at the Blizzard store than EvE:online does). Part of that would include an organized cracking down on copyright and trademark infringers. The slow rate of it would suggest to me that they didn't just write a bot to Google search their TM's and auto-send CaD's.
Seriously people it isn't hard. You can't use someone's trademark and copyrights without a license except under certain provision (normally parody, education, or journalism). TM's are especially important to protect because if you don't enforce them you can lose the ability to sue for damages, or lose the TM all together.
Rylka May 19th 2009 3:51PM
But selling stuff that only has your own website's name on it and nothing else hardly counts as infringement.
There MIGHT be a case made for some items that included things like the sihhouette of a murlock, but pet bowls and T-shirts with just "Warcraftpets.com" do not a case make.
Hopefully Breanni will feel comfortable putting up back the non-potentially infringing merchandise soon. I'd hate such a blanket shutdown to be the final word.
Martag May 19th 2009 3:29PM
I'm starting to frown upon Blizzard's legal department for their recent actions against many of their fans (& developers).
Why does Blizzard not release an official announcement in regards to their legal department's past and future actions just to save time?
Are they looking for a legal battle? Do they want to see how far their fingers can reach?
Maybe the recent global recession has their legal department bored to the point that they are just looking for whatever they can to actually seem like they are working so they do not get laid off or have their contracts revoked?
Maybe Blizzard could learn from these independent entrepreneurs and developers and actually create their own products to satisfy their consumers.
These actions vex me... Good luck to Breanni.
Lorem May 19th 2009 3:30PM
It's pretty simple. They are protecting their intellectual property, if you have no understanding why they would do such a thing please refer to the Apple vs Microsoft case. Or you can watch Pirates of Silicon Valley.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im589uTchKs
Blizzard was never a mom and pop developer and I'm blown away they let people get away with this crap for so long. Any other company would have sued the pants off the small man. Be glad Activision/Blizzard is being polite.
Perfect line from the movie: "You took our stuff... you fooled with it and you called it your own."
Myrz May 19th 2009 3:34PM
It seems that Blizz is going after people it deems would be more complacent in pulling down stuff ActiBlizz feels is illegal. However, what they are doing is effectively alienating people that have helped build their hype machine, and if they continue down this path, they will hurt themselves way more than help.
Sure, Blizzard has all the legal authority to do this, but now instead of asking people to give them free PR, they're asking them to pay for the privledge of helping Blizzard out (bandwidth costs, etc). Doesn't seem right to me. If someone were making a huge profit or if they legitimately cut into Blizzard's business, I can understand, but in this case, it was someone trying to pay the bills.
These are the kinds of bad feelings and ill will that people remember when someone other than Blizzard finally creates an MMO that people can latch on to.