Warcraft Legal Battles

Here's an interesting story about a fellow named Brian Kopp and his battles with the makers of World of Warcraft.  It seems Mr. Kopp has been trying to sell an unauthorized guide to the game, upsetting the game's publisher, Blizzard Entertainment.

For what it's worth, if the book does not include any copyrighted text/storylines from the game and makes "fair use" of some screenshots, as Kopp's complaint says, it seems as though he should be able to sell the book without being hassled.  I'm curious to see how this one plays out...

Comments

[Juliana Aldous Atkinson]

Personally, I'm pulling for the guy and I think he does have a case if he followed the rules you mention. There have been a mulititude of unauthorized guides in the gaming industry. I worked for Prima Publishing which used to do both official and unoffical (including one of the first official Warcraft guides). I remember a fun discussion with our attorney at the time on just how much of a Mario-like pair of overalls we could show on the front of an unauthorized Nintendo guide. And of course it has always been standard practice in the computer how-to industry to not need an authorized relationship. It would be tough to turn the tide now.

[world of warcraft guilds]

anybody know how this one played out?