Post subject: Re: The end of TASVideos, SDA, & LetsPlay in America?
Banned User, Former player
Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 7698
Location: Finland
DarkKobold wrote:
In short, another bullshit copyright law is entering the Senate, and could put an end to streaming of video game footage.
Well, look at the bright side. If the US government thinks that their police force and judiciary system has the time and resources to prosecute the thousands and thousands of individuals who send copyrighted material to others, that must mean that all the more serious crimes (such as drug trafficking, organized crime, gang wars, violence, rape, child abuse, discrimination, hate crimes, theft and so on) have been mostly solved and do not burden these officials. who are mostly twiddling their thumbs and have nothing better to do. That must mean that the crime statistics are looking pretty good in the US.
Post subject: How does this apply to us at all?
Emulator Coder
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
So I read the proposed changed to the bill along with the original sections under discussion. It applies to those who make a copy of a copyrighted work, and there's also a discussion of those who make a profit off of that copyrighted work. In our case, we're not copying the copyrighted work, we're producing a video from it - which is okay under fair use in most cases. Further, we're not making a profit off of these videos. Sure, it's a problem if you make a video copy of a movie or something, but that's not what we're doing. Who thought this had to do with streaming video produced from a video game?
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
Post subject: Re: How does this apply to us at all?
Skilled player (1638)
Joined: 11/15/2004
Posts: 2202
Location: Killjoy
Nach wrote:
Sure, it's a problem if you make a video copy of a movie or something, but that's not what we're doing. Who thought this had to do with streaming video produced from a video game?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machinima#Legal_issues This gives a pretty good overview of why gameplay videos are still copyright-protected by the creators of the video game.
Warp wrote:
DarkKobold wrote:
In short, another bullshit copyright law is entering the Senate, and could put an end to streaming of video game footage.
Well, look at the bright side. If the US government thinks that their police force and judiciary system has the time and resources to prosecute the thousands and thousands of individuals who send copyrighted material to others, that must mean that all the more serious crimes (such as drug trafficking, organized crime, gang wars, violence, rape, child abuse, discrimination, hate crimes, theft and so on) have been mostly solved and do not burden these officials. who are mostly twiddling their thumbs and have nothing better to do. That must mean that the crime statistics are looking pretty good in the US.
I lol'd. If only...
Sage advice from a friend of Jim: So put your tinfoil hat back in the closet, open your eyes to the truth, and realize that the government is in fact causing austismal cancer with it's 9/11 fluoride vaccinations of your water supply.
Post subject: It's not just video games
Joined: 4/30/2008
Posts: 89
Location: Northeast Kansas USA, GMT -06:00
Nintendo, Sony, Microsotf, Konami, Sega, and others are part of the "Entertainment Software Association". And this doesn't limit itself to video games. News programming is also being targeted, as well as classic TV shows and commercials, clips of movies that are being parodied and subbed/dubbed over (especially Downfall), music videos that users post on their own (YouTube and ContentID), and more often than not, streaming music over a stationary image. This bill would also forbid anyone reading a book or newsprint on an online stream. Complete list of supporters -- http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-s978/money
Editor, Player (67)
Joined: 6/22/2005
Posts: 1041
This would only affect streaming, right? It's definitely not the end of the site. Are the site servers even in the U.S.? We could still offer the input files, torrents, and mirrors.
Current Projects: TAS: Wizards & Warriors III.
Post subject: Re: How does this apply to us at all?
Emulator Coder
Joined: 3/9/2004
Posts: 4588
Location: In his lab studying psychology to find new ways to torture TASers and forumers
DarkKobold wrote:
Nach wrote:
Sure, it's a problem if you make a video copy of a movie or something, but that's not what we're doing. Who thought this had to do with streaming video produced from a video game?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machinima#Legal_issues This gives a pretty good overview of why gameplay videos are still copyright-protected by the creators of the video game.
I'd love to see this fully tested in court with fair use in question. In any case though, the law proposed isn't about derivative works, it's about copying and showing off the original. Dacicus: From my understanding, this wouldn't affect us at all.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.