When a Starcraft fan who goes by the name Khemist49 on Reddit returned a gold master source code disc for the original game to Blizzard, he probably didn’t expect to get much in return for his troubles. Khemist49 had bought a box labeled ‘Box of Blizzard stuff’ on eBay, only to discover a disc marked ‘StarCraft Gold Master Source Code’ in it.
Like any normal person who belongs to today’s Internet generation, he took to Reddit to ask folks what to make of it. Some commentators requested him to make an ISO copy of the contents of the disc available for download, while others felt he should return it to its rightful owners. A few days later, he got an inevitable call from Blizzard’s lawyer asking him to surrender the disc.
The argument was that it contained trade secrets and intellectual property belonging to the company. Following this, Khemist49 asked fellow Redditors whether he was legally bound to give up the CD since it did not indicate that it must be returned if found. Also, it did not have anything on it which proved it to be the restricted property of the developer.
Khemist49 did eventually surrender the CD. Although Blizzard was not obliged to do so, it rewarded him with Blizzard store credit worth $250 and a copy of Overwatch Origins. What’s more, the company also got in touch with him a few days later and offered him an all expenses paid trip to BlizzCon 2017. Wait, there’s more.
Two days after the extending the BlizzCon invite, Blizzard sent Khemist49 a box of Diablo and Overwatch themed goodies! A smart PR move and a win-win situation for the parties involved.