And the story begins once again with,
It is the 14th June 2011, a shiny summer day. Around lunchtime the door bell rings and 3 people with suits appear. It is Rod Rigole from Blizzard Entertainment Inc.("Blizzard Inc.") followed by another Blizzard Inc. representative and a German lawyer from the firm Gleis Lutz.
It is the 14th June 2011, a shiny summer day. Around lunchtime the door bell rings and 3 people with suits appear. It is Rod Rigole from Blizzard Entertainment Inc.("Blizzard Inc.") followed by another Blizzard Inc. representative and a German lawyer from the firm Gleis Lutz.
Side fact: Gleis Lutz is one of the biggest German corporate law firms with over 300 lawyers, 90 of them are partners.
Asked if they could enter, I kindly denied and agreed to meet in the next 90 minutes in a cafe in the inner city. Imagine the CEO of Bossland GmbH, which BTW is the one writing this story, in shorts, standing there and wondering if that people knew what a phone was. I decided to rush my way into the bath, put on some better fitting suit and while on my way to the inner city, to visit the barber.
The time passed by, I even was late five minutes, but I made it. Now, way better looking and dressed for a talk and not for a soccer game, I was presented with two options.Option one was to sign the seven pages long settlement agreement, option two was to try to settle via court. It was an interesting talk, even though under uneven conditions.
But I had a plan, while in shorts the first thing I did, was to call the lawfirm representing us since 2010 in different disputes. After the talk I made clear that a decision will not be made right now, I called my lawyer as we had a plan
The Plan™
As with any company, you are anxious to run a profitable business. The Plan™ was to give Blizzard Inc. A share of 20 per cent of our net income we made with our software products. The Plan™ failed quite fast, it was at least a try!
Since Rod Rigole was on holidays in Europe, I imagined that we would not be the one and only company he will visit on mainland. The assumption was correct, at least two more developers got in touch with him and finally at least as many stopped their businesses. Which was a pity, as we had another plan.
The Plan™ S02E01
It is always good to have competition, competition helps the market and makes users even happier. Competition encourages innovations. And the best competition is your own. The Plan™ was to take over Pirox Bots. We contacted Pirox and made an offer he could not resist....
But he resisted .... What a pity ... And Pirox was gone.
The lawsuit was submitted on 11th July 2011 at the regional court of Hamburg, a court known for his groundbreaking verdicts even outside the German borders.The written pleadings started, one party wrote few hundred pages and the other one answered with at least as many. But that was it more or less for this year. We planned some action of our own for the following one.
Next to follow - From years back - Year 2012 aka The Bot Strikes Back
The time passed by, I even was late five minutes, but I made it. Now, way better looking and dressed for a talk and not for a soccer game, I was presented with two options.Option one was to sign the seven pages long settlement agreement, option two was to try to settle via court. It was an interesting talk, even though under uneven conditions.
But I had a plan, while in shorts the first thing I did, was to call the lawfirm representing us since 2010 in different disputes. After the talk I made clear that a decision will not be made right now, I called my lawyer as we had a plan
The Plan™
As with any company, you are anxious to run a profitable business. The Plan™ was to give Blizzard Inc. A share of 20 per cent of our net income we made with our software products. The Plan™ failed quite fast, it was at least a try!
Since Rod Rigole was on holidays in Europe, I imagined that we would not be the one and only company he will visit on mainland. The assumption was correct, at least two more developers got in touch with him and finally at least as many stopped their businesses. Which was a pity, as we had another plan.
The Plan™ S02E01
It is always good to have competition, competition helps the market and makes users even happier. Competition encourages innovations. And the best competition is your own. The Plan™ was to take over Pirox Bots. We contacted Pirox and made an offer he could not resist....
But he resisted .... What a pity ... And Pirox was gone.
The lawsuit was submitted on 11th July 2011 at the regional court of Hamburg, a court known for his groundbreaking verdicts even outside the German borders.The written pleadings started, one party wrote few hundred pages and the other one answered with at least as many. But that was it more or less for this year. We planned some action of our own for the following one.
Next to follow - From years back - Year 2012 aka The Bot Strikes Back
