Blizzard ordered to pay costs in stymied lawsuit

It’s not always a foregone conclusion that Blizzard will emerge triumphant from its many court cases. Recently, it chalked one up in the “loss” column, as a judge ruled against the studio’s request for an injunction against Diablo gold-selling company Bossland GmbH. Blizzard brought the lawsuit to bear in Germany, claiming that the actions of the website were “anti-competitive.” A lower court had issued a temporary injunction, but a regional court overturned it and recommended Blizzard withdraw its application. After the decision, Blizzard was subsequently ordered to pay for the cost of both cases.

While some gamers have attributed the recent wave of bot-using account bans in World of Warcraft — reportedly around 100,000 — as a reaction to the case, the fact that Blizzard has been engaging in these bans for a good period of time now speaks against that conspiracy theory. Even though it bucked the lawsuit against it, WoW botting group Honorbuddy — owned by the aforementioned Bossland GmbH — said that it is packing up and calling it a day as a result of the bans.

In other legal news, Blizzard has reportedly teamed up with Valve in a suit against China’s Lilith Games and Longtu Game, makers of the totally-not-obviously-ripped-off-from-DOTA “DOT Arena” mobile game.

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