[DMCA-Activists] EFF: Federal Court Slams Door on Add-On Innovation

[Seth Johnson]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: EFF: Federal Court Slams Door on Add-On Innovation
Date: Thu, 01 Sep 2005 13:30:12 -0700
From: Donna Wentworth <address@hidden>
Reply-To: address@hidden
To: address@hidden

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

For Immediate Release: Thursday, September 01, 2005

Contact:

Jason Schultz
   Staff Attorney
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   address@hidden
   +1 415 436-9333 x112

Federal Court Slams Door on Add-On Innovation

Shuts Down Open Source Videogame Server Project

St. Louis, MO - In a decision with dangerous implications for
competition, consumer choice, reverse engineering, and
innovation, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled against
three software programmers who created a free, open-source
program to allow gamers to play games they purchased with others
on the platform of their choice. The court held that the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) prohibited the reverse
engineering needed to create the program and that "click-wrap"
and "browse-wrap" licenses are enforceable to prevent reverse
engineering.

The software program, called BnetD, allowed legitimate Blizzard
videogame owners to set up their own multiplayer games on the
Internet and enjoy dozens of additional features instead of being
locked into Blizzard's proprietary Battle.net game service. The
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), co-counsel for the
programmers, took the case to defend the fair-use right to
reverse-engineer software and create new programs that
interoperate with older ones.

"This ruling is bad for gamers, but it could also be terrible for
the software industry," said EFF Staff Attorney Jason Schultz.
"It essentially shuts down any competitor's add-on innovation
that customers could enjoy with their legitimately purchased
products. Add-on innovation is one of the hottest areas of
creativity and economic growth right now in software, and this
decision will slow investment and development in that field."

The court ruled that Congress' explicit protections for reverse
engineering and add-on innovation in the highly controversial
DMCA are too narrow and weak to protect innovators from lawsuits
when the software they create is used for illegal copying, even
if the copying occurs without the knowledge or participation of
the program's creators. The court also ruled that clicking on a
EULA's "I Agree" button, common when installing almost any
software product purchased today, can be used to force both
consumers and competitors out of the marketplace for add-on
innovation.

"Those who have been claiming that the DMCA does not threaten
reverse engineering are plainly wrong," added Schultz. "The DMCA
has become a powerful anticompetitive tool, and that means
consumers will see fewer innovative products in the marketplace."

For the ruling:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Emulation/Blizzard_v_bnetd/20050901_decision.pdf

Background in the case:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Emulation/Blizzard_v_bnetd/

For this release:
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2005_09.php#003949

About EFF

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties
organization working to protect rights in the digital world.
Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry
and government to support free expression and privacy online. EFF
is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most
linked-to websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/


     -end-


-- 
Donna Wentworth
Web Writer/Activist
Electronic Frontier Foundation
<http://www.eff.org>

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