2 ms·
Protocol reversal is not a DMCA violation. Otherwise MS would be in big trouble for when they reverse engineered the AOL protocol for the MSN Messenger. You c
by cogman10 2y ago
Protocol reversal is not a DMCA violation. Otherwise MS would be in big trouble for when they reverse engineered the AOL protocol for the MSN Messenger.
You can't copyright a protocol.
So long as these systems aren't enabling pirating these classic games they are free and clear.
- bitwize 2y agoOne of the things about battle.net though was that pirated StarCraft copies couldn't connect to it. Battle.net thus served as an "effective" copyright protection device -- circumvention of which is illegal under the DMCA. This has been tested in court, and the court found in favor of Blizzard. So yes, a judge has ruled that reversing the Battle.net protocol is a DMCA violation. That's why the bnetd.org domain was awarded to Blizzard (though a US court could not prevent the distribution of bnetd outside the USA).
- cogman10 2y agoLooked it up, didn't know there was already history, and that sucks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bnetd?wprov=sfla1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bnetd?wprov=sfla1