Blizzard Entertainment Weathering Litigation Avalanche
Over the past year, software developer Blizzard Entertainment has faced major trademark and copyright lawsuits threatening the company’s name and online game servers. [1] One year ago Blizzard’s legal team emerged victorious from the fray of a landmark copyright decision handed down from the 8th Circuit, [2] only to be immediately faced with a new challenge in the Federal District Court for the Western District of New York regarding the right to the ‘Blizzard’ name. [3]
The fight over the ‘Blizzard’ name involved the software giant, known for its video game lines Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo; and music company Blizzard Records. [4] Blizzard Records formed in 1986 to promote a now-defunct heavy-metal rock group. [5] After their original band flamed out in 1987, Blizzard Records had virtually no activity in the public until they began representation of another band called Chillin’ Sun in 1995, for whom they produced approximately one thousand records. [6] “Blizzard Records” as an entity or mark was not mentioned during the promotion of Chillin’ Sun’s album, [7] and the mark only became a factor after the company launched its website in 1999. In 1995, Blizzard Entertainment began releasing its Warcraft game line, including the ability to play the musical scores in the games in compact disc format. [8] After trying and failing to obtain a trademark in 2000, Blizzard Records sued, asking for an injunction estopping Blizzard Entertainment from using the “Blizzard” or “Blizzard Entertainment” trademark in the distribution of music. [9]
The implications of an adverse ruling for Blizzard Entertainment were serious, as virtually all of their video games contain original scores of music. The court’s ruling hinged largely around the fact that “the public was unaware of Blizzard Records” from 1987 until 1995,[10] a point in time after which Blizzard Entertainment had already won a huge following on the video game market with Warcraft. Because the case hinged around the distribution of music between the two companies, another key factor in the court’s ruling was that Blizzard Entertainment’s video games could be played as musical CD’s as early as 1995, and the availability in CD format and subsequent ability to download the music from the video games was a response to consumer demand during a time which Blizzard Records was essentially non-existent. [11] Ultimately, the District Judge concluded both companies could exist in the marketplace without confusion as to the products each company promotes and distributes, [12] a ruling which averted a scenario whereby Blizzard may have been forced to change it’s name to continue distribution of it’s gaming lines.
The name-issue was not a new one for Blizzard (of the software variety). Before taking the current name in 1994, the software company was forced to change from Chaos Studios to Blizzard Entertainment after they discovered that another company had the rights to the Chaos name. [13] While researching the Blizzard name, the company found no conflicting uses to the name (a time during which the record company was not representing anybody), another factor the court was quick to point out. [14]
Despite major wins in the intellectual property cases, Blizzard still faces a major lawsuit seeking to impose liability on the video game producer’s distributor for the suicide of a child in China. [15] After thirty-six straight hours of playing Blizzard video games, the child purportedly left a note behind that stated he wanted to “join the heroes of the game he worshipped.” [16] The suit claims the game company failed to include a warning that the game’s U.S. maker (Blizzard) rates it as suitable only for players above age 13. [17]
[1] See generally Electronic Frontier Foundation, Blizzard v. BnetD (available at
http://www.eff.org/IP/Emulation/Blizzard_v_bnetd/) (last visited September 14, 2006).
[2] See generally Davidson & Assoc. v. Jung, 422 F.3d 630 (8th Cir. 2005).
[3] See generally Mele v. Davidson & Assoc., 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39054 (2006).
[4] Id at 1.
[5] Id at 4.
[6] Id at 5.
[7] Id at 5-6.
[8] Id at 9-10.
[9] Id at 11-12.
[10] Id at 15.
[11] Id at 16.
[12] Id at 17.
[13] Id at 7-8.
[14] Id at 7.
[15] Blizzard blamed for MPG death, P2PNET (available at
http://p2pnet.net/story/7070) (last visited September 14, 2006).
[16] Parents Sue Game Company Over Son’s Suicide, The Age (May 12, 2006) (available at
(last visited September 14, 2006).
[17] Parents Sue Game Company Over Son’s Suicide, supra note 16.
Hi,
Blizzard launched their online gaming service Battle.net in January 1997 with the release of their action-RPG Diablo. In 2002, Blizzard was able to reacquire rights for three of its earlier Silicon & Synapse titles from Interplay Entertainment and re-release them under Game Boy Advance.In 2004, Blizzard opened European offices in the Paris suburb of Vélizy, Yvelines, France, responsible for the European in-game support of World of Warcraft.
Posted by: r4 revolution | July 02, 2009 at 03:37 AM