unauthorized or pirated copies of Blizzard games could be played in online mode through the
bnetd server.^1001
The plaintiffs alleged two violations of the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA.
First, they alleged that the defendants had violated Section 1201(a)(1)(A) in the course of
development of the bnetd emulator by circumventing Blizzard’s technological measures (the
secret handshake) to gain access to Battle.net mode in the course of their reverse engineering.^1002
Although not clear from the court’s opinion, the copyrighted work that the defendant’s gained
access to via their circumvention was apparently the code in the Blizzard games that allowed
them to operate in Battle.net mode and to communicate with the Battle.net service.
The defendants argued that their circumvention in the course of reverse engineering was
permitted by Section 1201(f)(1) because it was done for the sole purpose of creating and
distributing interoperable computer programs such as the bnetd server. They also argued that
they had authority to access the Battle.net mode because they lawfully purchased the Blizzard
software they reverse engineered.
The district court rejected these defenses. First, it ruled that it was “undisputed that
defendants circumvented Blizzard’s technological measure, the ‘secret handshake,’ between
Blizzard games and Battle.net, that effectively control access to Battle.net mode.”^1003 By its
reference to “Battle.net mode,” the court was again presumably referring to the code in the
Blizzard games that allowed them to operate in Battle.net mode. The court rejected the
defendants’ reliance on Section 1201(f)(1), because the defendants had not developed an
independently created computer program. The court noted that the defendants’ actions in
developing the bnetd server “extended into the realm of copyright infringement” because once
game play started, “there are no differences between Battle.net and the bnetd emulator from the
standpoint of a user who is actually playing the game.”^1004 It is unclear from this language
precisely what the basis was on which the court found copyright infringement. Perhaps the court
believed that the defendants had copied code from the Battle.net server into the bnetd server, for
earlier in the opinion the court noted that the plaintiffs contended “that the defendants not only
copied code that would achieve interoperability, but also copied elements that would preserve
player account information, display of icons, and presentation of ad banners.”^1005 However, the
opinion on appeal suggests that there was no copying of battle.net server code into the bnetd
server.^1006
(^1001) Id. at *1172-73.
(^1002) Id. at 1183.
(^1003) Id. at 1184-85.
(^1004) Id. at 1185.
(^1005) Id. at 1184.
(^1006) Davidson & Assocs. v. Jung, 422 F.3d 630, 636 (8th Cir. 2005) (“By necessity, Appellants used reverse
engineering to learn Blizzard’s protocol language and to ensure that bnetd.org worked with Blizzard games.
Combs used reverse engineering to develop the bnetd.org server, including a program called ‘tcpdump’ to log
communications between Blizzard games and the Battle.net server.”).