WoW copyright judgment - Problem for P99?

[Elissa]

Server emulators that use Blizzard’s IP facilitate piracy and offer unauthorized, inconsistent gaming experiences that can damage Blizzard’s reputation and goodwill with players.

That is actually the only relevant phrase in the article as to why they lost the case, which unfortunately does not really discuss the judge's reasoning (or specific causes of action) at all and is more or less Blizzard propaganda anyway (though it does contain a couple terms of art). These cases involving software/code/art can be very complicated and involve many different causes of action. Profiting off the unauthorized use of another's Intellectual Property is usually a negative factor against the defense of Fair Use, but is still only a single factor in a much broader case of numerous IP claims and is not necessarily, by itself, a losing battle (depending on the targeted or potential markets and the actual market effects of the infringement). I doubt that the profits were, by themselves, determinative in the decision of the case.

The bigger issues always surround the unauthorized use of the software, code, art, music, etc. and violations of the license agreement for the software, and all sorts of crap.

Nonetheless, stop worrying about P99! There are a lot of things going for us, not the least of which is that nobody who matters really cares that we exist, but also some decent legal arguments. That being said, don't assume that because we're not charged to play (or that anyone is profiting off this) that we're safe. We're safe because, quite simply, we're just not that big of a deal to SOE.