Blizzard Wins Nearly $90 Million World of Warcraft Lawsuit

United States District Court Judge Stephen Wilson has ordered Scapegaming to pay Blizzard $88.6 million for violating intellectual property rights. The company was operating and charging players for access to a set of World of Warcraft emulator servers. The judge issued a default judgment upon finding violations to U.S. copyright law. The Copyright Act permits the copyright owner to reclaim any profits “that are attributable to the infringement.”

In a statement, Blizzard stated: “Our ultimate goal is to create the best games in the world, and that means we need to protect our games and safeguard our players’ experiences with them. Server emulators that use Blizzard’s IP facilitate piracy and offer unauthorized, inconsistent gaming experiences that can damage Blizzard’s reputation and goodwill with players. We take these types of threats very seriously and will continue to take every available measure to protect our rights globally.”