Blizzard has been awarded $6 million (£3.37 million, or €4.24 million) in a lawsuit over Glider software, aimed at easing repetitive tasks, that infringes its copyright in World of Warcraft.

The damages were awarded following Blizzard winning the first round of its litigation against MDY Industries in July. US District Court Judge David Campbell ruled that the software breaks the terms of the license agreed to by players of WoW. Not all of Blizzard's claims were upheld, however, although MDY did concede that it would be reasonable to pay some sort of damages.

The Glider software (or bot) in question enables players to automate the completion of more mundane, repetitive tasks such as fighting nasties and picking up loot in WoW. It's thought that over 100,000 copies of the Glider have been sold at $25 (£14, or €17.70) a pop.

Blizzard sought to get double or triple the figure it was awarded, but the claim was thrown out. The case could be drawn out further should Blizzard choose to appeal this.

As it stands, the case is due to go back to court in January 2009 over some outstanding issues. It remains unclear whether MDY broke the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which relates to the production and distribution of technology designed to circumvent Digital Rights Management. It also may be found that MDY's founder, Michael Donnelly, has to pay damages out of his own pocket.

^{Source: BBC}