Brian Kopp, the writer of an unofficial World of Warcraft guide is suing Blizzard after they blocked him from selling his guide on Ebay through the "Verified Rights Owner" program, which lead to him being banned from Ebay.

Blizzard invoked the Digital Millenium Copyright Act when blocking the guide, claiming that it violated their copyright. However, according to a press release from the Public Citizen non-profit group which has taken up Kopp's case:

"The guide book contains tips on how to play the game but does not contain any copyrighted text or storyline from the video game, according to Public Citizen’s lawsuit. Kopp includes disclaimers in the guide stating that it was not an official guide and clearly noting that he was not affiliated with Blizzard Entertainment, the developer and publisher of 'World of Warcraft.'"

They go on to say that if Blizzard wins the case, it could have far-reaching implications for guides of all kinds, across any number of subjects, as well as "a wide variety of other speech that merely comments on a copyrighted work."

I'm not too concerned that it will be allowed to stay. Blizzard's known for having a bug up its ass about its copyrights, and unofficial game guides have existed for years. "Verified Rights Owner" obviously refers to his rights to what he has written in the book, not to what the book is about. I don't think anyone was going to confuse the two.

Source: Gamasutra