Bnetd
Encyclopedia
bnetd is a software package
that was reverse engineered
from Blizzard Entertainment
's Battle.net
online multiplayer gaming service, providing near-complete emulation
. The software allows users to create and play games on their own servers, instead of Battle.net servers. Released under the terms of the GNU General Public License
, bnetd is free software
.
Due to a United States lawsuit won by Blizzard against bnetd's original developers, they no longer maintain or host bnetd.
Blizzard, citing security and piracy concerns on their webpage about emulation, does not allow battle.net to interoperate with bnetd servers to verify CD keys. Because of this, bnetd servers do not implement battle.net's validation. This allows players to access full multiplayer functionality of Battle.net capable games without a valid CD key, by connecting to a bnetd server.
(ISP). Blizzard subsequently filed suit against the developers of bnetd and their ISP in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
. The lawsuit alleged copyright infringement, trademark infringement
, and violations of their games' End User License Agreement (sometimes referred to as a clickwrap
license) and DMCA anti-circumvention
prohibitions, in what would become an important test case for portions of that law. The Electronic Frontier Foundation
mounted a defense, in which defendants denied copying any portion of battle.net or Blizzard games, denied the validity of the battle.net trademark, denied that CD keys are an anti-piracy measure, and denied that bnetd is a circumvention tool.
In September 2004, the court disagreed and granted summary judgement to Blizzard. On appeal, defendants argued that federal copyright law, which permits reverse engineering, preempts
California state contract law, upon which the EULA's prohibition on reverse engineering is grounded.
In September 2005, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals
rejected the defendants' argument and affirmed the lower court's decision. "Appellants failed to establish a genuine issue of material fact as to the applicability of the interoperability exception [of the DMCA]. The district court properly granted summary judgement in favor of Blizzard and Vivendi on the operability exception." The appeals court further ruled that bnetd circumvents copy protection
in violation of the DMCA.
bnetd developer Ross Combs and EFF staff attorney Jason Schultz criticized the appeals court ruling, claiming the ruling means software and hardware vendors can use a DMCA-EULA combination to prevent otherwise lawful reverse engineering and chill the development of interoperable systems. Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime called the ruling "a major victory for our profit margins." An Entertainment Software Association
representative also supported the ruling, claiming it reinforces the DMCA's ability to prevent "IP abuse and theft."
As a result of the litigation, the bnetd.org domain was transferred to Blizzard's control pursuant to the consent decree
entered during the trial. The domain is now offline but still registered by Blizzard. Although Blizzard won the case, the lawsuit did not stop the continued distribution of bnetd's open source code, nor of derivative projects such as PvPGN
. Other hosts were quickly set up by third parties in countries where no anti-circumvention
legislation equivalent to the DMCA exists.
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
that was reverse engineered
Reverse engineering
Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object, or system through analysis of its structure, function, and operation...
from Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded on February 8, 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce and currently owned by French company Activision Blizzard...
's Battle.net
Battle.net
Battle.net is a gaming service provided by Blizzard Entertainment. Battle.net was launched in November 30, 1996 with the release of Blizzard's action-RPG Diablo. Battle.net was the first online gaming service incorporated directly into the games that make use of it, in contrast to the external...
online multiplayer gaming service, providing near-complete emulation
Emulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
. The software allows users to create and play games on their own servers, instead of Battle.net servers. Released under the terms of the GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
, bnetd is free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
.
Due to a United States lawsuit won by Blizzard against bnetd's original developers, they no longer maintain or host bnetd.
CD key non-interoperability
Blizzard games are packaged with unique codes. CD keys are entered, but not verified, during the installation process. Connection to battle.net is permitted only with a valid and unique key. Individual keys are regularly disabled by battle.net administrators to block suspected cheaters from battle.net. Players with invalid or disabled keys remain able to play independently of battle.net, such as in single player mode, or through a direct connection to another player.Blizzard, citing security and piracy concerns on their webpage about emulation, does not allow battle.net to interoperate with bnetd servers to verify CD keys. Because of this, bnetd servers do not implement battle.net's validation. This allows players to access full multiplayer functionality of Battle.net capable games without a valid CD key, by connecting to a bnetd server.
Blizzard takedown demand and lawsuit
In February 2002, Blizzard filed a DMCA safe harbor takedown demand against bnetd with their Internet service providerInternet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
(ISP). Blizzard subsequently filed suit against the developers of bnetd and their ISP in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri is a trial level federal district court based in St. Louis, Missouri, with jurisdiction over fifty counties in the eastern half of Missouri. The court is one of ninety-four district-level courts which make up the first tier of...
. The lawsuit alleged copyright infringement, trademark infringement
Trademark infringement
Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attaching to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees...
, and violations of their games' End User License Agreement (sometimes referred to as a clickwrap
Clickwrap
A clickwrap agreement is a common type of agreement often used in connection with software licenses. Such forms of agreement are mostly found on the Internet, as part of the installation process of many software packages, or in other circumstances where agreement is sought using electronic media...
license) and DMCA anti-circumvention
Anti-circumvention
Anti-circumvention refers to laws which prohibit the circumvention of technological barriers for using a digital good in certain ways which the rightsholders do not wish to allow...
prohibitions, in what would become an important test case for portions of that law. The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
mounted a defense, in which defendants denied copying any portion of battle.net or Blizzard games, denied the validity of the battle.net trademark, denied that CD keys are an anti-piracy measure, and denied that bnetd is a circumvention tool.
In September 2004, the court disagreed and granted summary judgement to Blizzard. On appeal, defendants argued that federal copyright law, which permits reverse engineering, preempts
Federal preemption
Federal preemption refers to the invalidation of US state law when it conflicts with Federal law.-Constitutional basis:According to the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution,...
California state contract law, upon which the EULA's prohibition on reverse engineering is grounded.
In September 2005, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Eastern District of Arkansas* Western District of Arkansas...
rejected the defendants' argument and affirmed the lower court's decision. "Appellants failed to establish a genuine issue of material fact as to the applicability of the interoperability exception [of the DMCA]. The district court properly granted summary judgement in favor of Blizzard and Vivendi on the operability exception." The appeals court further ruled that bnetd circumvents copy protection
Copy protection
Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy obstruction, copy prevention and copy restriction, refer to techniques used for preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media, usually for copyright reasons.- Terminology :Media corporations have always used the term...
in violation of the DMCA.
bnetd developer Ross Combs and EFF staff attorney Jason Schultz criticized the appeals court ruling, claiming the ruling means software and hardware vendors can use a DMCA-EULA combination to prevent otherwise lawful reverse engineering and chill the development of interoperable systems. Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime called the ruling "a major victory for our profit margins." An Entertainment Software Association
Entertainment Software Association
The Entertainment Software Association is the trade association of the video game industry in the United States. It was formed in April 1994 as the Interactive Digital Software Association and renamed on July 16, 2003...
representative also supported the ruling, claiming it reinforces the DMCA's ability to prevent "IP abuse and theft."
As a result of the litigation, the bnetd.org domain was transferred to Blizzard's control pursuant to the consent decree
Consent decree
A consent decree is a final, binding judicial decree or judgment memorializing a voluntary agreement between parties to a suit in return for withdrawal of a criminal charge or an end to a civil litigation...
entered during the trial. The domain is now offline but still registered by Blizzard. Although Blizzard won the case, the lawsuit did not stop the continued distribution of bnetd's open source code, nor of derivative projects such as PvPGN
PvPGN
PvPGN is a free and open source software project offering emulation of various gaming network servers. It is published under the GPL and based upon bnetd...
. Other hosts were quickly set up by third parties in countries where no anti-circumvention
Anti-circumvention
Anti-circumvention refers to laws which prohibit the circumvention of technological barriers for using a digital good in certain ways which the rightsholders do not wish to allow...
legislation equivalent to the DMCA exists.
See also
- PvPGNPvPGNPvPGN is a free and open source software project offering emulation of various gaming network servers. It is published under the GPL and based upon bnetd...
(Player vs Player Gaming Network) is a free and open source software project offering emulation of various gaming network servers and is being maintained by a non-profit organization. - StratagusStratagusStratagus was a free cross-platform real-time strategy game engine used to build other games. It is written in C with the configuration language being Lua. SDL, gzip and bzip2 are among the external libraries used.-History:...
is a free software real time strategy engine which began as a similar project of reverse engineering Warcraft II under the name "FreeCraft". Blizzard threatened legal action, and the project was halted and then restarted under a different name as a general engine project, though Warcraft II support is added through Wargus. - Bowers v. Baystate TechnologiesBowers v. Baystate TechnologiesBowers v. Baystate Technologies was a U.S. Court of Appeals Federal Circuit case involving Harold L. Bowers and Baystate Technologies over patent infringement, copyright infringement, and breach of contract...
older case law on reverse engineering in the US which decided that shrink-wrap licenses may prohibit reverse engineering otherwise allowed by the Copyright Act
External links
- Blizzard v. bnetd - Electronic Frontier FoundationElectronic Frontier FoundationThe Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
- Emulation FAQ - Blizzard EntertainmentBlizzard EntertainmentBlizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded on February 8, 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce and currently owned by French company Activision Blizzard...
(Activision BlizzardActivision BlizzardActivision Blizzard, Inc., formerly Activision, Inc. is the American holding company for Activision and Blizzard Entertainment. The company is majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA and was created through the merger of Activision and Vivendi Games, announced on December 2, 2007, in a...
/Vivendi SA) - BNETD source code, FAQ and Debian packages