Famed felon seeks to join MDY vs Blizzard
Filed under: World of Warcraft, News items, Legal

If you've been keeping up, you already know of the court battle between Blizzard and MDY over the Glider automation software used with World of Warcraft. Another amicus brief has been filed in the case, and this one is a real attention-getter.
An amicus brief (often formally named amicus curiae -- friend of the court) is usually (but not always) where a concerned party submits additional information to the court, often to inform it of a wider impact or implication of certain outcomes beyond the fundamental interests of the direct parties to the case, or to provide other information which the court may be lacking. This isn't uncommon in particularly controversial, far-reaching or complex legal cases. That can go a little further, however, to what is called Intervention, where a third-party seeks to become a party to the case already in progress.
The filer of the Intervention is Jonathan Lee Riches, who is incontestably our favorite US Federal Prison inmate. Riches has previously sued "Adolf Hitler's National Socialist Party", "13 tribes of Israel", Plato, Nostradamus, Che Guevarra, Jimmy Hoffa, the Lincoln Memorial, the Eiffel Tower, the Garden of Eden, the Roman Empire, the Appalachian Trail, Three Mile Island (the island, not just the power-plant), Rockstar Games, George W Bush, Steve Jobs, Perez Hilton, Britney Spears, and hundreds more.
Now he's suing Blizzard because of World of Warcraft, and ... well, let's take a look at why ...
Riches' filing is hand-written, but well-practiced. In it, he requests permission to intervene 'as interveners have a[sic] interest in this case against Blizzard Entertainment Inc and their World of Warcraft video games which cause Intervenors to commit federal crimes. World of Warcraft cause Riches mind to live in a virtual universe, where Riches explored the landscape committing Identity theft and fighting cybermonster rival hackergangs.'
Honestly, this is great stuff.
'Riches,' it goes on, 'was addicted to video games and lost touch with Reality because of defendants. This caused Riches to commit fraud to buy defendants[sic] video games. Riches chose World of Warcraft over working a legit job, Riches mind became a living video game. I hold defendants liable and support Plaintiffs. I move for amicus curiae, I can provide this court with my medical charts, credit and receipts of buying their video games with fraud. I have newly discovered evidence. I pray this court will grant Intervenors motions for relief.'
That last sentence is pure legal boilerplate, but as for the rest, whew.
Riches is also asking for this to be considered en banc. That is not by just the Judge(s) involved in the case, but by all the Judges of the court. This is generally only used for cases of unusual significance, or of extraordinary complexity.
We rate Riches' chances of having his Intervention granted at about zero. You can see the whole, one-page motion over at Benjamin Duranske's Virtually Blind, whom we have to thank for bringing this absolute jewel to our attention. We're looking forward to popping a copy of this on the office notice-board.
It takes a special kind of person to sue Plato.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Joshie Love said on 10:38AM 11-06-2008
Isn't this just like the people that sued McDonalds for "making them fat"?
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Dread said on 12:33AM 11-07-2008
No...this bloke is a serial idiot ;)
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Jack said on 11:08AM 11-06-2008
You forgot to say that Jonathan Lee Riches LOSS all that sues.... What make this "news" totally crap I think he not even played world of warcraft.
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Kyle Maxwell said on 12:08PM 11-06-2008
Pure Internet gold.
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steve said on 12:36PM 11-06-2008
i love it even if he is lieing through his teeth too bad he dont right fiction
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DeathMutant said on 6:05PM 11-06-2008
I was under the impression that inmates in a federal prison are not allowed to play computer games or access the internet except via monitored e-mail so exactly how is this person supposed to have played WoW?
Ah, I understand now. Anyone who wants some guerilla marketing done for their product just needs to slip this guy some cigarettes if he promises to sue them. The lawsuit will never win but it generates publicity and you know what they say about publicity. . .
(I'm not saying Blizzard encouraged this but it would be a clever marketing method)
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Dreadnaugh said on 9:50PM 11-14-2008
This guy is funny. He has so many more lawsuits.
http://dreadnaught.wordpress.com/category/jonathan-lee-riches/
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