No Fun and Games: Blizzard Alleges Infringement by JoyFun Inc.
Blizzard Entertainment Inc. v. JoyFun Inc. Co.
United States District Court for the Central District of California
Case No. 8:19-cv-01582
Filed August 16, 2019
A new lawsuit filed by video game developer Blizzard Entertainment Inc. (“Blizzard”) alleges that Sina Corp, a subsidiary of JoyFun Inc., has infringed Blizzard’s copyright on the wildly popular “Warcraft” series, which includes games such as World of Warcraft. Blizzard says Sina Corp’s game Glorious Saga has been nearly entirely copied from Blizzard’s Warcraft games and related products. In particular, Blizzard alleges that the game infringes its copyright of Warcraft by appropriating:
- Visual depictions of Blizzard’s characters, races, creatures, animals, and monsters;
- Blizzard’s in-game artwork or concept artwork;
- Blizzard’s in-game icon artwork;
- Visual depictions of locations and landmarks which appear in Blizzard’s games; and
- Blizzard’s sound and/or music files.
According to Blizzard, Glorious Saga even copies the descriptions of in-game content that are used by Blizzard in their Warcraft and World of Warcraft games franchises. Notable examples include distinctive character names, such as “Jaina Proudmoore, Gul’dan, and Malfurion.”
Blizzard alleges that Sina Corp has blatantly ripped off the Warcraft games in order to profit from Blizzard’s products. Blizzard’s complaint requests an injunction preventing the further sale of Glorious Saga, as well as damages.
We will continue to track this case and provide updates over the course of the litigation.