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Fugu

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,744
I'm 99% sure everyone talking about the legal/fair use angle here is wrong or misleading, and I strongly encourage people to not repeat legal advice you find on the internet, especially around IP as it's very, very complicated and tends to vary dramatically by domain.

What's worse is that it's completely irrelevant. As demonstrated many times historically, if a developer doesn't want their game to be streamed, they have many tools to enforce that.

The fact that developers very rarely do that speaks for itself.
I honestly wonder what it is that people think lawyers do for a living when I see shit like this.
 

KingM

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,488
The streamer is literally transforming the experience. What are you talking about. That's literally why people watch X streamer.
That would put it in a situation like MST3K and Rifftrax though. There are very very few people interested in watching say "Starcrash" unless it was on MST3K and yet they are unable to just post a riff of whatever film without worry of copyright. Which is why there's now the market for selling the audio for a Rifftrax seperated from the recording riff over the movie.
 

Axel Stone

Member
Jan 10, 2020
2,771
You were acting as if people were shitting on him for innocently pointing out. No, they were criticizing him for saying things should change. He literally has the word should in his tweet. As in, things ought to be a certain way.

Your phrasing of people shitting on him for merely pointing something out is false.

Let's say someone just said "it's really interesting from one point of view, you could argue streamers should pay for streaming licences for games, but companies likely won't go for that, cuz it'd be unwise to do so." Then his position would be clear, but he'd be pointing out a curiosity, and NO ONE would be shitting on him. So no, merely pointing it out wouldn't be earning him the shitting.

He not only brought it up, but he actively said it should be that way, not even that one could argue it. He actively holds that position. That is what he is getting shit on for. Full stop. Not for merely bringing it up like you originally said.

I mean sure, if you want to argue that the use of "should" in a tweet with no other efforts to make something a reality despite having power to do so is a sign of an attempt to change the status quo, then you go ahead. I feel it's too strong a reading of a tweet, but this is getting into semantics and it's late in the U.K. and I can't be bothered with it right now.

And frankly, even if you're right, I still believe that the reaction from some quarters to an opinion being expressed has been over the top. Actual efforts to effect change are one thing, expressing an opinion that things ought to be different doesn't strike me as grounds for this sort of reaction. Clearly you disagree, I'm not sure there's much more to discuss here.
 

Lowrys

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,457
London
Hold on, if you stream a movie in its entirety on YouTube or whatever, and talking over it with your critique or whatever, the studio or publisher would have a perfectly legitimate claim to stop you doing that, especially if you were monetising that stream. It's an IP matter.

Why is it different for games?

Put to one side streamers who are paid to promote the game by streaming, or the fact that streaming often benefits a game's sales, because those are both irrelevent.
 

DeoGame

Member
Dec 11, 2018
5,085
With the exception of maybe Sam Bartlow games, the gameplay and experience cannot be replicated through a streamed experience. Streamers can help sell a game to a wider audience, see Fortnite, Fall Guys, Among Us, hell Minecraft and Halo back in the Youtube/Machinima early days. The only extent it can be harmful is if the game is disliked, but the "boogeyman attacking our otherwise great scapegoat" has also been applied to Critics, Rotten Tomatoes, internet forums and fan conventions. It's ridiculous.

Look, I don't even watch streamers except to play Jackbox with friends. My childhood friend made me spend 4 hours watching him play PC games I could never try when growing up which put me off the whole "watching people play games thing". But even I know their value.
 

Fugu

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,744
Hold on, if you stream a movie in its entirety on YouTube or whatever the studio or publisher would have a perfectly legitimate claim to stop you doing that, especially if you were monetising that stream.

Why is it different for games?

It's a straightforward IP issue and I don't see why it's different for games.

Put to one side streamers who are paid to promote the game by streaming, or the fact that streaming often benefits a game's sales, because those are both irrelevent.
Pretend for a moment you are not talking about "IP".

Are games and movies different?
 

Green

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,415
But you CAN'T just very specifically talk about that. You said they get nothing, and that is wrong. Whether or not they wanted it doesn't change that. And plus you're making this about a developer wanting to avoid getting something for free that companies regularly pay millions of dollars for because it's so valuable? You're talking about a really dumb hypothetical.

Most developers aren't dumb enough to want to exempt themselves from the free advertising streaming provides. So trying to bring up whether they should be able to isn't going to win over a lot of people to your argument. Why would anyone care about the ability to do something that stupid?

I mean I've now said it three times: the "nothing" I was referring to was specifically the profit generated by the streamer using content they didn't create without permission and without paying for it. OBVIOUSLY there are side-benefits to a developer that a streamer provides that typically creates an overall net-positive for a particular dev. I'm not talking about that because if they don't have permission, whatever "benefits" come along with their streams doesn't matter - they don't have the right because it isn't theirs to use to make money. It's the money they are making and NOT paying to the creators. If you just keep ignoring that to make some run-on reiteration again, then I don't know what else to say.

If Metallica just started playing some indie bands albums in full and profiting off it without kicking anything back to the creator, you can't just say that's fair because now the creator benefits from Metallica's massive exposure and people will be more likely to buy the media. It's not their damn music to make money off of.

Fuck the creators I guess? Streamers should just do whatever they want with whatever they want and creators should just be thankful whatever comes their way from the almighty Twitchers.
 

Bovandy

Member
Aug 15, 2019
91
And those companies are free to set the cost of a streaming license to $0 if they so choose. Others should be able to set the price higher than that if they want.
I mean, video game companies COULD do this now. They could absolutely say "you cannot stream our games unless you pay us for the privilege. You and SuperDouche are acting like it's somehow impossible. There's a reason the companies aren't doing that.
 

Fugu

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,744
? not entirely sure what you're getting at
My bad - it was unclear. I'm agreeing with you. All this sort of armchair analysis makes me think that folks on here must just think being a lawyer is incredibly easy.

But as a lawyer the intellectual property is a fundamental part of the issue. You can't just put it to one side.
I'm asking you to put it aside for a moment so that you can ideally realize that these things are being treated as different because they are different.
 

SasaBassa

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,115
I'm not saying I agree with it, it's just that bird law in this country is not governed by reason.

More seriously, definitely a sector I'll be watching re IP law developments because of the push/pull between enforcement and profits which isn't so present right now but could change.
 

typhy

Banned
Jan 9, 2018
284
Hello, I am writing to this forum because there seem to be many lawyers posting concurrently in this thread. I was just wondering if it was legal to download a ROM of my Super Mario game off of Kazaa if I delete it after 24 hours. Thank you for your responses.
 

SasaBassa

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,115
Hello, I am writing to this forum because there seem to be many lawyers posting concurrently in this thread. I was just wondering if it was legal to download a ROM of my Super Mario game off of Kazaa if I delete it after 24 hours. Thank you for your responses.

Use limewire just to be safe and to get Typhoid for your computer at the same time.
 

Fugu

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,744
I'm not saying I agree with it, it's just that bird law in this country is not governed by reason.

More seriously, definitely a sector I'll be watching re IP law developments because of the push/pull between enforcement and profits which isn't so present right now but could change.
This is the big message. If the money starts to move to one side, then the law might shift very aggressively, but it's complicated/confusing right now.
 

Parthenios

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
13,622
I mean, video game companies COULD do this now. They could absolutely say "you cannot stream our games unless you pay us for the privilege. You and SuperDouche are acting like it's somehow impossible. There's a reason the companies aren't doing that.
Oh, I didn't know that. I thought that it was unclear under current law and no one felt like being the company to have to litigate it.
 

sredgrin

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
12,276
Oh, I didn't know that. I thought that it was unclear under current law and no one felt like being the company to have to litigate it.

It is.

Companies could do what they suggested because nobody could afford to challenge it. Only if Amazon or Google decided to throw their hat in the ring would it ever get anywhere.
 

Lowrys

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,457
London
My bad - it was unclear. I'm agreeing with you. All this sort of armchair analysis makes me think that folks on here must just think being a lawyer is incredibly easy.


I'm asking you to put it aside for a moment so that you can ideally realize that these things are being treated as different because they are different.
Are movies and games literally different things? Yes. But as far as I'm aware, IP law and what one can and cannot republish (or broadcast) doesn't have one rule for movies and one rule for games, at least in my country.

I'm not saying publishers should always charge streamers for the right to broadcast their IP, I'm just interested in the legal argument to say they cannot do that if they wish.
 

Bashteee

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,193
I want them to try it and see how it works out.

Flappy Bird
Among Us
Phasmophobia
Medival Dynasty

They all demonstrated that a couple of streamers can change some people's life.

Music industry is fucking themself with DMCA, if nobody plays your music anymore, nobody will know about it either. I add a lot of tracks I hear during streams that I like to my Apple Music playlist and I'm sure others do the same.

The argument against exposure doesn't apply here, either. The work is already done and you need to sell copies of it. If it's digital, there is virtually no additional cost. It would be different if you had to bake a cake for every customer, which isn't the case here.
 

TimeFire

Avenger
Nov 26, 2017
9,625
Brazil
Hello, I am writing to this forum because there seem to be many lawyers posting concurrently in this thread. I was just wondering if it was legal to download a ROM of my Super Mario game off of Kazaa if I delete it after 24 hours. Thank you for your responses.

Lawyer here, everything is legal if you don't get caught. Go for it
 

Deleted member 81119

User-requested account closure
Banned
Sep 19, 2020
8,308
Hello, I am writing to this forum because there seem to be many lawyers posting concurrently in this thread. I was just wondering if it was legal to download a ROM of my Super Mario game off of Kazaa if I delete it after 24 hours. Thank you for your responses.
no one uses kazaa any more. get yourself kazaa lite. its much safer.
 

Rosebud

Two Pieces
Member
Apr 16, 2018
43,740
Publishers are the ones paying streamers lol

Asking for a fee would only kill their games on Twitch, good luck with that.

I'm a SP-only gamer that bought Among Us because of a streamer.
 

Fugu

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,744
People using sources to argue their points =! thinking being a lawyer is easy.

Yall wild.
I don't take sides in debates about quantum mechanics because I recognize that I'm out of my depth. Hell, I don't take sides in this debate because I recognize that I'm not even the right kind of lawyer. And yet, here you are talking about what "the law is" when you've exhibited that you don't even have a basic understanding of what that means. That's really incredible to me and I can only imagine it comes from a place of supreme arrogance and/or a lack of respect for the complexity of the questions involved.

Are movies and games literally different things? Yes. But as far as I'm aware, IP law and what one can and cannot republish (or broadcast) doesn't have one rule for movies and one rule for games, at least in my country.

I'm not saying publishers should always charge streamers for the right to broadcast their IP, I'm just interested in the legal argument to say they cannot do that if they wish.
Why would the law treat things that are different as identical? Better question - why should the law treat things that are different as identical?
 

Deusmico

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,254
Watch dogs ads from streamers started going up.... And this is a popular game aswell, not a smaller title that needs exposure

NPxVrDT.jpg
 
Nov 8, 2017
6,333
Stockholm, Sweden

Parker Petrov

Member
Nov 1, 2017
452
Oh, I didn't know that. I thought that it was unclear under current law and no one felt like being the company to have to litigate it.

yeah, it's very cut and dry. Even the game you are "buying" you don't own. You are buying a license to play the game. You aren't buying the game itself. Your license only gives you the right to play the game privately. Very much the same way when you buy a movie you are buying a license to view the movie privately. In both cases, you have no legal right to publicly display the game, or profit off it without the consent of the publisher.

Game publishers have so far chosen not to enforce their rights. However, they could at any point choose otherwise.
 

Chettlar

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,604
I mean sure, if you want to argue that the use of "should" in a tweet with no other efforts to make something a reality despite having power to do so is a sign of an attempt to change the status quo, then you go ahead. I feel it's too strong a reading of a tweet, but this is getting into semantics and it's late in the U.K. and I can't be bothered with it right now.

Dude. You can be criticized for an opinion, even if it's not a direct call to action. I don't know why you keep bringing this up. He thinks things should be different, and people think that's a bad take. There's nothing more to it than that. It's not a weird thing to note that people are doing that. And the way you described it wasn't accurate.

And frankly, even if you're right, I still believe that the reaction from some quarters to an opinion being expressed has been over the top. Actual efforts to effect change are one thing, expressing an opinion that things ought to be different doesn't strike me as grounds for this sort of reaction. Clearly you disagree, I'm not sure there's much more to discuss here.

Whether I think the degree to which reactions have gone doesn't really matter to me here. It's the internet. There's probably some dumb fuck who has sent Alex a death threat. That doesn't invalidate the criticism he's getting, nor does it change that the reason he's getting criticized is for a bad take.
 

Chettlar

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,604
I mean I've now said it three times: the "nothing" I was referring to was specifically the profit generated by the streamer using content they didn't create without permission and without paying for it. OBVIOUSLY there are side-benefits to a developer that a streamer provides that typically creates an overall net-positive for a particular dev. I'm not talking about that because if they don't have permission, whatever "benefits" come along with their streams doesn't matter - they don't have the right because it isn't theirs to use to make money. It's the money they are making and NOT paying to the creators. If you just keep ignoring that to make some run-on reiteration again, then I don't know what else to say.

If Metallica just started playing some indie bands albums in full and profiting off it without kicking anything back to the creator, you can't just say that's fair because now the creator benefits from Metallica's massive exposure and people will be more likely to buy the media. It's not their damn music to make money off of.

Fuck the creators I guess? Streamers should just do whatever they want with whatever they want and creators should just be thankful whatever comes their way from the almighty Twitchers.

What you're not getting is you can't just say nothing here. You can't just lop out a huge portion of the picture here, which is what you are doing.

And again, the music comparisons don't work, because with streaming, universally they do lead to increased sales vs no streaming. But with music, the opposite is more often true.
 

alexlf

The Fallen
Nov 1, 2017
740
I don't believe that is the case at all. Like, you couldn't adapt something just because it changes the format. Iirc, even though Hamilton is based on a public figure from 3 centuries ago the author of the biography that inspired it still receives royalties from the play. And I would imagine anyone without the rights would quickly be struck down trying to make a film, play, etc based on a best selling novel.

You are right, I overstepped with that description. Sufficiently transformative for a book might instead be something like a review, or an analysis of the book. Even if the whole plot is revealed, it would not be illegal. Similarly for games, despite the fact that most of the game's content might appear on screen at some point, it is undeniably fundamentally different to watch it than to play it.
 

Fugu

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,744
yeah, it's very cut and dry. Even the game you are "buying" you don't own. You are buying a license to play the game. You aren't buying the game itself. Your license only gives you the right to play the game privately. Very much the same way when you buy a movie you are buying a license to view the movie privately. In both cases, you have no legal right to publicly display the game, or profit off it without the consent of the publisher.

Game publishers have so far chosen not to enforce their rights. However, they could at any point choose otherwise.
One indication that something is not "cut and dry" is that the claimed "cut and dry thing" never happens.
 

slothrop

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Aug 28, 2019
3,891
USA
I guess I basically would grant that I am possibly open to the idea a game owner should be able to license a game in this way if they really wanted to. More likely than not this just would allow rent seeking by AAA hit rights holders and no revenue at all for anyone else. Most owners, even AAA, will probably prefer free marketing though.
 

Gotdatmoney

Member
Oct 28, 2017
14,529
Especially when you have major publishers like EA literally paying million of dollars to streamers to play their games at launch. That happens across the board with a lot of major releases now every month.

This idea that nobody has ever stopped to think about this until some guy on Twitter mentioned it is insane.

Gaming ERA does have a real weird litigation, copyright, and corporation soft spot though.

Its dumb. This issue isn't complex. And it will eventually get litigated if there is actual merit to any of these claims because no one will leave money on the table. But reality of the matter no one is gonna fucking waste their money buying licenses to stream games so no one is going to actually make any money out of this shit if you target streamers as individual participants. So publishers have to target streaming platforms like Youtube and Twitch and that shit will eventually happen regardless because no one with a legal claim to a multi billion dollar industry will sit on their hands forever.
 

dabri

Member
Nov 2, 2017
1,728
But


But music and videogames are way different experiences - you buy music to listen to it... if a streamer would stream a whole song, album without any additional sounds mixed in, then you could use that stream to listen to that song, album without the need to buy that music and therefore get the full experience to listening to music and the artist doesn't get payed
You buy a videogame because you want to play it - you don't get that experience just by watching a stream of said videogame.. even if you would see the whole walkthrough from start to finish and if it's enough for you just to watch someone else to play a game and you don't wanna to buy that game, that means you wouldn't buy that game even if there wouldn't be any stream of that game.. so the developer or publisher isn't losing money because of that stream
Two way different situations
Not according to copyright law.
 

Lowrys

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,457
London
Why would the law treat things that are different as identical? Better question - why should the law treat things that are different as identical?
The law always lags behind technology, so often with tech you're trying to apply law to situations that weren't envisaged when the laws were created.

You seem to be a fellow lawyer, so you know that asking why different things would be treated as identical isn't quite the right question. But OK.

Videogames are interactive, that's the only difference I could see a court distinguishing the two media. Both have sound and visuals. Both are covered by intellectual property rights that can be enforced if they're infringed.

As to the "should" question, that is more interesting but again you will know that the law often consists of broader frameworks that are then applied to specific situations, because creating different rules for everything would be impracticable and unsustainable.

Personally I think the two media are sufficiently similar that publishers could credibly stop streamers from broadcasting their games if they so chose.
 

dabri

Member
Nov 2, 2017
1,728
Its dumb. This issue isn't complex. And it will eventually get litigated if there is actual merit to any of these claims because no one will leave money on the table. But reality of the matter no one is gonna fucking waste their money buying licenses to stream games so no one is going to actually make any money out of this shit if you target streamers as individual participants. So publishers have to target streaming platforms like Youtube and Twitch and that shit will eventually happen regardless.
This isn't a new topic. This has been discussed by most publishers (internally) and devs at some point or another. All have decided it's not worth it because the marketing they get from game streams is more valuable than the license fees they would receive and the litigation costs they would incur going after anyone who infringes on those rights.
 

Ambient

Member
Dec 23, 2017
7,149
Honestly it's not that hard not to say dumb shit on social media. This guy deserves everything he's getting right now.
 
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