Breanni of WarcraftPets.com closes store, posts apology to Blizzard
by Mike Schramm 
May 19th 2009 at 3:00PM
The amazing Breanni of WarcraftPets.com, once loved so much by Blizzard that he got immortalized in the game, has apparently gotten another of Blizzard's C&Ds. First, we saw iPhone apps pulled off of the App Store with what seemed like legal action, and then we heard that webcomic Shakes and Fidget was contacted by Blizzard legal, and now Breanni has pulled down his merchandise store, as well as posted a "formal apology" to Blizzard. Breanni doesn't say exactly what happened, but he says that he "became aware" that what he was selling was violating Blizzard's trademark policy, and calls the store a "lapse in judgment," and says that he hopes to "continue to recieve Blizzard's blessing." It's almost like hearing one side of the conversation -- we don't know what Blizzard said to him (if anything), but he definitely sounds spooked.This is a slightly different issue from the other C&Ds we've seen -- Breanni was making money from selling what we presume were actual images of Blizzard's copyrights and trademarks, so a store like that is pretty plainly in violation of copyright law (Mania's Pets calendar, for example, uses fan art rather than actual screenshots). But what's interesting here is, if they did contact him, why Blizzard has decided to do this now, and why they've only moved against Breanni. There are certainly lots of other places to find Blizzard art printed on products for sale. We're not suggesting that Blizzard should just let it all go, obviously, but why now?
We've had requests for comment out to Blizzard ever since the first few iPhone apps were pulled off of the App Store about all of this recent C&D action, and we've added this one to the stack. If we hear anything back from them, we'll let you know.
[Thanks, John E!]
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Blizzard, News items, Fan art
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Virusz May 19th 2009 3:05PM
What....the hell?
Yeng May 19th 2009 3:24PM
Sounds like they're just making the rounds now, I'm thinking we are going to be seeing a lot more of these C&D coming up. Obviously the legal department has been unleashed.
On the bright side, speaking of non-combat pets, the patch included my http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=63318
Todd May 19th 2009 3:33PM
Why are all the good WoW related blogs or bloggers closing up shop suddenly?
Julie May 19th 2009 3:33PM
Wow, really :/
I hate to say it, but this is a warning sign that Blizzard is about to start heading downhill among its customers. I have never known a company to persue bad PR policies, that wasn't on its way down.
And that's all this really is BAD PR. Come on now, you really think Blizzard was losing that much money and/or they are going to make much money by shutting down WARCRAFTPETS.COM. Might as well take a gun and shoot youself in the foot; cause you have not accomplished anything except piss off your own fans. And like I said, I have never known a company on its way up to do this kind of thing. You're just too worried about alienating your customers (rocking the boat) to risk something dumb like that. But once they reach a plateu, then they become much more defensive, like rabid dogs defending their turf. Because they don't have anything else. How the mighty have fallen :/ I swear, you better delay the release of Icecrown Citadel; cause I predict there will be a sharp decline in membership after that.
Robert M May 19th 2009 3:35PM
The sad thing is Blizzard is picking on those whom they have a symbiotic relationship with. The are going to wake up one morning angry and confused when the big bad hippo that is Blizzard has chased away all the oxpecker birds that used to help keep it clean.
Jay in Oregon May 19th 2009 3:51PM
"Why are all the good WoW related blogs or bloggers closing up shop suddenly?"
To be clear, WarcraftPets is NOT shutting down; Breanni is closing the CafePress store down that had WarcraftPets merch for sale.
The headline could be clearer about that.
Lorem May 19th 2009 7:17PM
They target larger sites first to scare the smaller sites. This is not bad PR. If you redraw Micky Mouse and slap it on a mug and sell it for $15 you will surely see a lawsuit come your way.
Plus it's not like these sites will die. They just need to find other means of financial support. Car wash anyone? The free ride is over for many ,but who cares. Get a real job.
Bearkub May 19th 2009 10:38PM
Blizzard would clearly rather spend time and money American entrepreneurs making a small buck (which likely pays for the server's hosting their sites, sites which Blizz loves and highlights) and spend the same time and money to make their promotions, contests etc. available to Canada, Latin America, Europe, etc ... I mean, they're adding POLISH language support. Seriously? Who speaks Polish, and doesn't also speak another language? That Uni-lingual population vs everyone shafted by "USA" only stuff. Seriously.
TonyMotorola May 19th 2009 3:09PM
Asshole lawyer can rot.
Urza May 19th 2009 4:24PM
A bit overreacting. You have to understand, if someone is using a Blizzard trademarked image or name, Blizzard MUST enforce it. If they don't, they lose that trademark.. meaning anyone can use it, including the competition.
Robert M May 19th 2009 5:50PM
@Urza,
Is his response really that much of an overreaction? Though we don’t really know exactly what The9 has in store or even what world of fight is, there is a high probability it’s exactly what we are all thinking it is, a knockoff of WoW and probably pretty safe from litigation in China. If the lawyers really were worried about their product, they would pour all that cash into the fight that is likely to ensue.
Instead, they are attacking players of the game that have done everything in their power to promote it. If you would like to imply that the players who had the iPhone apps, or that Breanni was hurting Blizzard, then you should first recognize that the money they would likely pay someone to maintain a site similar to Breanni’s would likely cost them more than $0, or even more than the money that Breanni is able to make for upkeep of his site.
The issue here is not that Blizzard is protecting their product, it’s that they are doing just the opposite. They are picking fights with people that, from Breanni’s apology, will do whatever they can to correct any transgressions they may have made from a game they enjoy.
Ramp up for a fight against The9, please.
Take on glider because it compromises the ToA, and compromises the gaming experience, fine.
Insist that addons be free so they do not influence the experience of the game with regard to access to real life money, if you insist.
Attacking sites that require cash to survive when the site does nothing but promote your game and further your profits, well that seems a little shakier.
My question is where does it stop? No merchandise for Breanni, again, if you insist. WoWhead makes money from advertisers because wow players frequent their site for information that is accessible in the game. All of the icons, and screenshots are taken from the game, isn’t that using Blizzard’s product for profitability? What happens when the legal department decides that wowhead cannot use any screenshots, icons, or descriptions from the game because they are the intellectual property of Blizzard?
Kakistocracy May 19th 2009 6:32PM
Whereas the vast majority of lawyers can prosper? Or are you dim enough to hold the view that that is an apt description of any meaningfully large group?
Shouldn't your dissatisfaction be redirected to the legislators responsible for intellectual property laws? In which case, a less ignorant response would be "most likely dead legislators can rot".
Get with the times and start hating business people, a similarly small proportion of them are causing problems, and they actually break the laws that relate the them.
Nick May 19th 2009 3:10PM
I'm getting pretty tired of Blizz stomping on the little man. Some (like this) are harmless, others (like glider) are debatable, all should have been left alone.
Ktok May 19th 2009 4:53PM
Shutting down a bot application is "debatable"? Seriously? I'd call executing bot developers' mothers "debatable". Simply making them stop providing the tool is not only justified, it's desirable.
Now I will grant that botters in WoW do not seem to be *as* disruptive as they were in EQ2, but back there a couple of bot groups could shut down regions of zones and make entire quest lines impossible to complete. My experience with bots there has set my mind firmly toward wanting to have botters flogged publicly each year at Blizzcon. Shutting down the app they use to pull it off? That's lenient.
Molly May 19th 2009 3:11PM
I was really sad about this :(.
The store sold shirts that said things like " I heart Warcraft Pets". There were a couple that featured a shadow-like image of a pet, no details or anything. I was hoping to get a couple to wear to Blizzcon, but I guess that isn't gonna work out.
If Blizz offered their own pet merchandise, I could see this being a thing to get mad over; but as of now us pet collectors have no way to 'officially' show our pet pride.. hence why stores like Breanni's existed in the first place.
Fail on Blizz's part.
The Hammer May 19th 2009 3:11PM
This'll be Activision's doing, surely?
Alizar May 19th 2009 3:38PM
/agree
This is all a bit over the top
Former insider May 19th 2009 4:01PM
No, it's Paul Sams, Blizzard's VP of All the Boring Business Stuff No One Else Wants to Do. He's not a gamer and doesn't get it. Remember the bnet lawsuit? That was him, too.
Rylka May 19th 2009 3:13PM
It's possible some of the site's merchandise had actual WOW images on them, but many/most did not.
We purchased a pet food bowl for our cat that had "Warcraftpets.com" on it, and nothing else, just the words. No way that could be infringement.
I'm truly hoping that Breanni is just being overly cautious and has not been harassed by Activision-Blizzard.
If anyone wants to read the post for themselves you can go to:
http://warcraftpets.com/news/
RogueJedi86 May 19th 2009 3:15PM
Or click "Source" at the bottom left of the article, just to the left of the Comments link.