Reverse Engineering/Internet Gaming Software Held to Breach Shrink-Wrap Contract

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that reverse engineering copyrighted software to allow multi-user gaming on an unauthorized server using unauthorized copies of games violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Davidson & Associates, et al. v. Tim Jung, Case No. 04-3654 (8th Cir. Sept. 1, 2005) (Smith, J.). The Court also held that the plaintiffs’ state law breach-of-contract claims were not preempted because those claims neither conflict with the "interoperability exception" to the DMCA nor otherwise restrict rights given under federal law.

Davidson & Associates d/b/a Blizzard Entertainment and Vivendi Universal Games, Inc. (Blizzard) own copyrighted computer games that users can play against one another online through a free web site service called Battle.net, available only to purchasers of the copyrighted games. The games and website have security mechanisms to prevent the use of unauthorized copies. Ignoring an end-user license agreement (EULA) and