Cease and Desist
If, when you make a movie, TV show, or video game your only end-goal is to sell a product to the end-user, you’re doing it wrong. To really cash in and make your media-event legendary, you need a moderately unique idea that has broad-spectrum appeal and a vocal fan-base. Why? Anyone can roll out a product that a few people will buy (ala Vanguard: Saga of Heroes), but if you’re a real market-savvy motherfucker, you know that you want consumers buying your lunchboxes, t-shirts, comic books, pins, plushies, card games, convention tickets, bed sheets—you get the idea. You want an Empire so vast that your fans will quietly grumble, gloss over the inadequacies, and chide the non-believers with a simple “I find your lack of faith disturbing†when you follow your original work with mediocre sequels. Please see the Matrix Reloaded, Star Wars Episodes I-III and Halo Wars.
More than anything else, you want to keep people talking. You need to skim over the hordes of blogs, speculative research, terrible fanfiction, and fanmade monstrosities because they represent Your People. Your People aren’t interested in the money, but rather the product and the direction it will take in the future—they are your glorified cash cows, and it would do you well to keep them well-groomed and fat. Don’t get me wrong; following that formula isn’t necessarily the path one takes to create a “perfect productâ€â€”just a well-marketed one. Keeping the masses happy, however, doesn’t always require pandering—just a healthy dose of watchful minding and respect.
We can argue all day whether Blizzard has been feeding casual-cows and destroying the challenge of the game in direct proportion to a rise in profits, but they do a more-than-acceptable job in reaching out to the community. They read our blogs. They regularly publicize fanart and recently championed a creative writing contest. There are a number of in-game tributes to helpful players (see: Phaelia’s Vestments of the Sprouting Seed and quest-reward items named after DK beta testers), memorials (think: Ezra Chatterton), geek-culture references, regular responses to fan-questions and demands via forums, GM visits, Blizzcon—really, we WoW players are a pretty lucky (and simultaneously gullible) bunch.
Why risk invoking the ire of the Internet community that so celebrates the machine by threatening creative fans with legal action? I’ve been pondering that very question since I heard that Shakes & Fidget, makers of an e-famous WoW comic, were hit with a Cease & Desist order. I cannot pretend to know the fine-details, even with the ability to read German, but I fail to see the problem with what’s essentially a “free†comic that popularizes Blizzard’s universe. “But they’re making money from merchandise and advertising!†the finger-wagglers wail, “Blizzard has every right to stop them!†This is correct, if indeed S&F are making money from the comic. I am not totally convinced.
Blizzard has the right to make sure that no one else makes money off of their copyrighted material—but the real question is whether folks like Shakes & Fidget are in any way, shape, or form cutting into the deck of Blizzard’s profits. Are they feasting off a glut of Euros, or are they funding hosting costs for their WoW-tribute comic? Is it even enough revenue to be taxed? Are they selling merchandise that directly competes with a 2nd party vendor like J!NX? I could be wrong. Maybe Blizzard isn’t worried (and shouldn’t be, for that matter) about the monetary aspect, but rather find that comics such as S&F’s “defame†their image. Straight from Blizzard’s legalese:
“…Also, we reserve the right to revoke this limited use license at any time, for any reason, and at the sole discretion of Blizzard Entertainment®. You may not use our materials on sites that feature defamatory, pornographic, or inflammatory content, including, but not limited to, hacks and cheats for any of our games or any other content that Blizzard Entertainment® find objectionable or unlawful.â€
Judging from the general content of said comic, we can rule out “defamatory,†“pornographic,†and “inflammatory.†I also haven’t stumbled across any private servers at S&F’s website, nor have I found any roll-hacking mods. Blizzard—or shall I say ActivisionBlizzard—has seemingly invoked the “for any reason†clause. To what purpose? The new add-on policy (although arguably harmless) coupled with these first-tier Cease & Desist orders seem to represent an ever-darkening cloud on the horizon, and I’m admittedly a little worried. S&F wasn’t the first (as the creators of the WoW iPhone applications can attest to), and they won’t be the last. Who’s next? Penny Arcade? LFG? Astrylian, the creator of Rawr? Me? For once, I’m glad I’m not nearly that popular.
You, as a reader and as a consumer, should be upset about this. ActivisionBlizzard is more than willing to lap up the monthly subscription fees, transfer and name change dollars, Arena Tournament entry costs, Blizzcon ticket sales, and extensive merchandising opportunities, but may be increasingly tight-fisted when it comes to “sharing†their World. Blizzard’s content is not only enriched by new hardware and a slick design team, but also by the tremendous support and ancillary creativity of the players who populate it.
Smirkfang
I have to agree – they’ve started to overstep the boundaries of normal control when it comes to fan-generated content. Part of what Blizzard wants is for people to revel and rejoice in what they’ve created, thus spreading it further and creating a great community. The web comics, iPhone apps, t-shirts…everything that’s fan-generated is positive and essentially says “Yay for Warcraft!”
It’s also not hurting anything. The webcomics are free, the iPhone apps (I think, not sure) were free, and the addons are free. So why march into the garden with an iron fist and yank up the daisies? I have no idea, honestly. On a PR view, it’s sending a negative message to the community – potentially showing your appreciation for Warcraft could have legal implications? What company WANTS to send a message like that?
That being said, I’m guessing that it’s the Activision legal department sitting there as if they have a thumb up their rears because they can’t control everything. Before the merger, Blizzard itself had done little to interfere with the fan-created realm of Warcraft support. Now…I just don’t know anymore. Who are they targeting and what the HELL is their rationale behind it? It’s very sporadic and random, especially since Act/Blizz has no plans to host its own AddOns, or webcomics, or even iPhone apps.
They’re just doing this because they -can- do it, from what I see.
I have to wonder why comics like Cru the Dwarf (which is way past ‘risque’) or Flintlocke – both which use actual game art and models – haven’t been served (aside from the fact that Fargo works for Blizz now, of course). It doesn’t make sense.
Hi Runy.
IANAL, but I’ve been told by guys in law school that there are certain lines that, when crossed, you have to slap down the folks doing it, or you can lose some of your enforcement rights down the road. Like it sets a negative precedent. A company has to actively enforce certain limitations.
I don’t know where the line is, but I would assume that with the new Activision involvement, Blizzard has easy access to more lawyers who want to ensure that they look to their bosses like they are working hard, and so they are actively looking for things to enforce. That may not have been the case in the past.
I do not mean to justify what’s going on, and of course I don’t really know whether this is the case, but based on what little I know about copyright/trademark/ip law, this seems a likely scenario.
I have heard of that, actually, and you may be right. However, what strikes me as a little strange is the people that’ve come into ActiVisionBlizzard’s crosshairs lately. Now, supposedly one of the reasons they cracked down on the iPhone app makers is because they’re working on one of their own. But S&F? As one of the previous folks mentioned, I can think of more than a few websites that “take it too far” that haven’t been touched.
Is it a warning? Maybe.
He can do it!, so I should be allowed too?
Not being a lawyer, I can say why or how they target people.
But I am willing to be they are targeting the people with the highest hit counts first.
But if you have a Cash cow thats generating this kind of money for them, you want to protect it. Look at D2 and their forums! no control there
As I understand it, a company has to protect its trademarks actively or they lose the right to protect them later. They can’t pick and choose when to control their trademarks, as soon as someone is allowed to use it freely then everyone is. The same is not true of copyright, however.
I have no idea why they would pick one site over another, unless they are the only ones prominently making use of trademarked logos or graphics.
I was wondering why I hadn’t seen a new S&F in a while.
This begs the question – why didn’t Blizz jump on BRK for his merchandising? Or Phae? Or Maintankadin? I’m pretty sure they all made profits off of t-shirt/merch sales at the “expense” of Blizzard’s intellectual property.
There’s a really awesome video on why the current copyright laws fail today’s culture.
http://blip.tv/file/1937322
I mean, I’m pretty sure that most people in the US have broken copyright laws at some point in their lives. Blizzard is actually a LOT more forgiving on a lot of things than they could be….
I agree, actually. I think the point I was dancing around was that Blizzard really does have a reputation for respecting and interacting with fans, and that perhaps this seems a little out-of-character for them.
I’ll have to check out that video.
I believe this was like some above have mentioned; you have to protect your trademark otherwise you can loose your rights to it.
The reason this comic was hit was due to it being a German comic and German trademark laws are at fault here. This is what I have read and understood from it.
It would of been nice for Blizzard to of released an explanation to the public describing this as people would be much more content with the situation. The way it has been handled has got alot of peoples backs up.