A week after filing suit, Blizzard has suddenly dropped all charges against alleged hacker group “Starcrack.”
On April 12, Blizzard moved to sue a man by the name of John Marshall and five other unnamed defendants, alleging Marshall, under the name “usmc23,” was posting detailed reports on the progress of the group’s attempt to crack Starcraft II‘s game client and create an unauthorized copy. Blizzard’s complaint was Marshall and his fellow hackers were producing this crack “…with the goal of enabling members of this community to benefit from Blizzard’s development of SC2 without paying for it.”
A week later, the charges, which included direct and indirect copyright violation as well as the circumvention of copyright protection systems and a breach of contract, have all been dropped, with no stated reason why. What we do know is Blizzard is cracking down on hacks and misuse of its system, so dropping the lawsuit seems a bit out of character. Mistaken identity, perhaps?
Source: Gamasutra
Published: Apr 22, 2010 09:32 pm