@noirtenshin: Corporate espionage is illegal. I'm not claiming otherwise. Instead, I'm suggesting that Blizzard's actions may or may not be considered corporate espionage, depending on whether or not there actually was copyright infringement on Bossland's behalf. If there was, Blizzard simply procured a copy of what legally belonged to them. No violence, no threats, no intimidation, just lawful re-possession. If there wasn't, then Blizzard should be found guilty of corporate espionage, because then they would have gained possession of trade secrets they had no right to possess. They should be required to pay Bossland any damages that resulted from Blizzard's acquisition of their product. I would have absolutely no problem with that. From the details of the case, though, I'm fairly well convinced that Bossland was violating Blizzard's copyrights.
The reason it's smart to have legal counsel no matter how big or small your company is, is because lawyers make it their job to understand what is legal and what isn't. There are many situations in which actions may or may not be legal, depending on the circumstances. They probably analyzed the risk in taking the kind of action Blizzard took, recognized that they could be committing corporate espionage if they were wrong, and took the risk because they are confident that Bossland is infringing on their copyright. They're not being the bully, they're refusing to allow another company to leech off of their success while simultaneously degrading the quality of their game.
@OrgeLambart: Did you actually take the time to read and understand my previous response to you? It seems like you picked up parts of it, but didn't actually bother to consider anything that you didn't already agree with.
Considering a year ago steam had just hit 3700 games available on the service (http://www.gamespot.com/articles/steam-reaches-100-million-users-and-3-700-games/1100-6422489/), I hope you'll forgive me for being more than a little skeptical that you have nearly 4100. Same goes for your console libraries. Those are some pretty lofty numbers, my friend. But hey, if you really, truly, actually do legitimately own that many games, then congratulations. Your wallet and your dick are both bigger than mine. Regardless, I wasn't trying to prove that mine was bigger than yours. I was simply pointing out that I do, in fact, purchase things that I could just as easily pirate.
In the current world yes, I do believe people should be paid for their work, because that's how they are able to support their families and continue doing their jobs and making things for others to enjoy. I'm pretty sure I've clearly stated that already. If I like something, I am more than happy to give the creators of it some of my money. I would also hope that others do the same for me. You see, I also make software, and I rely on being paid for my work to be able to continue doing it.
What I was trying to get at is that I would like to see the world become a place where ideas and experiences are not kept from others simply because they don't have the means to pay for it. I would like to be able to make things purely because I want to make them, not because I need the money. That kind of world is exactly the kind that wouldn't even understand the concept of paid DLC or microtransactions, because those things wouldn't exist. Developers would make content because they would be passionate about making experiences for people to enjoy. When I write software, I don't want to keep it from people. I want as many people as possible to enjoy and benefit from what I've created. But for now, I have to settle for the fact that I need to monetize my work somehow, which means that fewer people will be able to enjoy the things that I've created.
It may not be a realistic expectation to see that kind of world become reality in my lifetime. There are a lot of unanswered questions as to how the world would continue to work. But it's still something that I dream of, and it's why I am not ashamed to say that yes... I am a pirate at heart. If you still insist on wishing that I get a virus, I guess I'll have to do my best to keep my anti-virus up to date.
@OrgeLambart: That's quite the hasty attack, don't you think? I said I'm a pirate AT HEART. Do I pirate games / movies / music / software? Admittedly, yes. Do I also spend more of my income on games / movies / music / software than on anything else? Also yes. I tend to pirate when something isn't available for purchase, either because it's old or because companies have decided not to sell it in my region. I've also pirated as a means of testing a game I'm unsure about buying, or when I haven't had the money. In many cases I've later purchased games that I've pirated, because I believe in supporting the companies that make things that I like. Looking at my shelves I currently own about 60 PS3 games, 60 PS2 games, 10 Wii / Wii U games, I've purchased about 20 retro titles for the Wii Virtual Console, I have a Steam library of roughly 100 games, and about 15 that I've purchased from GOG.com, 10 from Origin, and all of Blizzard's games.
I said that I am a pirate at heart because I believe that all information should be open, and that the idea of copyright shouldn't exist. I believe that people should share their ideas with the rest of the world openly and let other people build and expand on them, without having to pay for the right to do so. I'd like to see a world where that is a reality. But just because I believe in those things as an ideal, doesn't mean I'm ignorant of the way the world works today. I pay for the things I enjoy so that the people who put effort into making them can continue making them.
@noirtenshin: It is modifying the game experience for everyone. Let's say that Blizzard didn't fight against bot makers and users, and instead let them run rampant through their games. They would end up in a situation where all of the bot users had an economical advantage over everyone else, since they continued to earn gold, experience, items, etc... 24 hours a day, so long as they kept their bots running. It would throw off the in-game economy and any leaderboards there might be, and leave the non-bot users in a lower class since they would never be able to catch up.
Windows is an Operating System and is specifically licensed to allow developers to write applications for it, which is why Windows apps don't belong to Microsoft. If they didn't license it that way, they'd be a pretty unpopular operating system since nobody would want to develop for Windows. Blizzard games are not operating systems, are not licensed that way, and all modifications to the game are in fact property of Blizzard.
It seems you have a bias against Blizzard, or corporations in general. While I definitely agree that many corporations are guilty of letting the accountants run the show above all else, I don't think Blizzard is one of them. They don't have a perfectly clean track record (*ahem* Diablo 3 Auction House and overpriced items in the WoW store), but they place fun and polish in their games above all else, even when that means extending development time, or cancelling games that have been in development for years.
@Jinzo_111887: From Wikipedia (forgive my laziness of digging any further):
"Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. v. Nintendo of America, Inc. (Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, 1992) was a court case which established the rights of users to modify copyrighted works for their own use."
The critical point being "for their own use". Since Bossland's bots affect everyone playing the game, it's not just a personal-use product anymore, so it doesn't avoid copyright infringement like Game Genie did.
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