It's been a long time coming for Blizzard in its suit agains a bot programmer but an Arizona judge has opined that the WoW "Glider" program violates the terms of the World of Warcraft EULA. But the decision is a mixed bag for Blizzard.

Blizzard owns a valid copyright in the game client software, Blizzard has granted a limited license for WoW players to use the software, use of the software with Glider falls outside the scope of the license established in section 4 of the TOU, use of Glider includes copying to RAM within the meaning of section 106 of the Copyright Act, users of WoW and Glider are not entitled to a section 117 defense, and Glider users therefore infringe Blizzard's copyright. MDY does not dispute that the other requirements for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement are met, nor has MDY established a misuse defense. The Court accordingly will grant summary judgment in favor of Blizzard with respect to liability on the contributory and vicarious copyright infringement claims in Counts II and III.

If not settled out of court, the final battle will rage in September. We'll keep you posted.