bnetd is a GPL ed software package that provides a complete emulation of battle.net, the proprietary set of servers for games developed by California based Blizzard Entertainment. Since the official battle.net service can be troubled by performance problems such as lag, and social problems such as Internet bot, bnetd was developed, using reverse engineering methods, to enable gamers to play network games independently of battle.net. However, unlike battle.net, the bnetd server cannot check the validity of CD key asserted by connecting clients. This enables illegally copied games to access full multiplayer functionality.

In February 2002, Blizzard threatened legal action against the developers of bnetd. Blizzard filed suit in Missouri, alleging violations of their games Clickwrap licenses, as well as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), in what would become an important test case for portions of that law. The Electronic Frontier Foundation mounted a defense, but the court ruled in favor of Blizzard. On appeal, defendants argued that federal copyright law, which permits reverse engineering, preempts California state contract law, upon which the clickwrap prohibition on reverse engineering is grounded.

In September 2005 the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that argument and affirmed the lower court s summary judgement. 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 also ruled that bnetd circumvents anti-piracy controls in violation of the DMCA.

Critics of the decision claim Blizzard violated its own clickwrap s forum selection clause, and forum shopping to keep the case out of the 9th Circuit. The 9th Circuit, which includes California, has ruled against the enforceability of clickwrap licenses in certain cases. Critics also dispute the CD key s function as a piracy control device, since it does not prevent the CD from being copied. In one sense, it only authorizes access to battle.net, and battle.net administrators regularly disable CD keys to block cheaters from the service.

The bnetd.org domain was transferred to Blizzard s control pursuant to the consent decree entered during the trial. As recently as September 2005, the domain was being redirected to www.battle.net, Blizzard s battle.net website.

See also the external links section at Blizzard Entertainment

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