The9 company drops charges against World of Warcraft

Hearing of the The9 Computer Technology Consulting（Shanghai）Co.,Ltd charging Blizzard Entertainment violating computer software copyright case originally scheduled at 9:00 on March 11 has been canceled as the plaintiff withdraw the accusation.

Commercial defamation disputes of the two companies have concluded on March 10, 2010 and The9 insists 12 million yuan compensation claims, telling the court it does not accept the mediation.

As requested by The9, the plaintiff lawyer refused to be interviewed. Blizzard made no comment. It is still unknown why The9 made two diametrically opposite decisions towards the same defendant.

A well-known lawyer of intellectual property rights in Shanghai said the three charges The9 made against Blizzard Entertainment have been cancelled before the hearing because of objection to the jurisdiction. This time The9 decided to withdraw the accusation may related to this.

He also thinks The9 filed lawsuit against Blizzard might be primarily aimed at the localization property rights of "World of Warcraft", "such as translation and chinesization."But Blizzard has a rich experience in licensing companies, and the contract will certainly have a clear statement of this part of the ownership of intellectual property rights."

In April 2009, Blizzard Entertainment announced that it would not renew its operating contract on the World of Warcraft game with The9. Instead, the company is planning to cooperate with another Chinese online game operator, NetEase.com. Because the revenue from World of Warcraft accounts for a major part of The9's total revenue, the termination of cooperation between Blizzard Entertainment and The9 will potentially bring a great negative impact to The9.

Losing World of Warcraft makes The9 suffer huge losses. Chen Xiaowei, CEO of The9 admits the company lost 92% of income. At the same time, shares of the company have fallen sharply, is now down to about 7 U.S. dollars, while the stock once peaked to 50 dollars.