There are two new developments in Hernandez v. IGE. First, IGE has filed a declaration from CEO Brock Pierce stating that IGE merely holds stock in Affinity Media Inc. and doesn’t itself do anything or employ anyone. Second, Hernandez has moved to compel production of documents and interrogatory responses.

For the full background of this case, see VB’s complete coverage. In brief, plaintiff is suing IGE on behalf of essentially all World of Warcraft players on the grounds that IGE, by farming gold, spamming chat, camping spawns, and generally diminishing the World of Warcraft experience, allegedly prevented players from receiving the full benefits Blizzard intended them to receive as third party beneficiaries of Blizzard’s Terms of Use and End User License Agreement.

Pierce Declaration

IGE has filed a declaration from Brock Pierce (.zip) stating that Pierce is “the sole Managing Member and sole officer of the Defendant in this action, IGE U.S., LLC a/k/a Affinity Media Holdings, LLC” and that U.S. IGE “is not engaged and does not employ anyone to engage in any form of RMT, ‘gold farming,’ ‘spamming,’ auctions or any of the other activities alleged in the Amended Complaint.” Rather, “IGE U.S. consists solely of its stock holdings in Affinity Media, Inc.” The declaration was filed to support IGE’s claim in its opposition to class certification that the injunctive relief Hernandez seeks (an order closing down some of IGE’s gold farming operations) cannot be granted because IGE itself does not participate in these activities. The declaration also sheds some new light on the murky corporate structure of IGE, a subject of frequent, often entertaining speculation over at Broken Toys.

Motion to Compel

Hernandez has filed a motion to compel with exhibits (.zip) asking the court to force IGE “to produce all documents called for by plaintiff’s document request and to respond fully to plaintiff’s Interrogatories.” Hernandez argues that the motion is necessary due to “IGE’s wholesale failure to provide meaningful discovery, apart from a sparse and woefully incomplete production of scattered corporate meeting documents and reports and evasive interrogatory responses.” With less than eight weeks to go in fact discovery under the court’s current case calendar, motions like this are relatively common. The exhibits include Hernandez requests for production of documents and interrogatories to IGE, and IGE’s initial responses, for those who are interested.