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from the you-pays-your-money--you-takes-your-chances dept.
Ars Technica has an interesting tidbit today about one of our more hotly discussed topics here... whether or not "abandonware" should continue to receive copyright protection — Entertainment Publishers fight to block third-party revival of “abandoned” game servers
This article concerns the trade industry response to a brief filed by the EFF last November.
A major game industry trade group is fighting back against a proposed DMCA exemption that seeks to give gamers the right to modify games with abandoned online servers in order to restore online gameplay and functionality. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), with support (.pdf) from the Motion Picture Association of America and Recording Industry Association of America, argues that the proposed exemption would amount to "enabling—and indeed encouraging—the play of pirated games and the unlawful reproduction and distribution of infringing content."
[...] The US Copyright Office will be holding public hearings [PDF] on the proposed DMCA exemptions May 19 through 21 in Washington DC and Los Angeles. The final round of written comments on the rule will be closed on May 1.
My own thoughts on this is likely our payment systems are just as unworkable as copyright law. Mechanisms are now in place to take our money, give us something, then abandon it, yet prohibit us from using it. Maybe its high time we consider a "Millennium Digital Currency Act" for payments so when the vendors want to abandon the service, the money transfers back to to the buyer, and the copyrights transfer back to the seller.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by sjames on Sunday April 12 2015, @03:15AM
No, the EFF is asking the union to EITHER actually provide union workers at the union salary OR allow the employer to hire non-union employees.
It's like the bridge trolls dynamiting the other bridges so you have to use theirs and then leaving their bridge barricaded, locked, unmanned, and finally collapsed because taking tolls is like work or something. But god forbid you should try to build a new bridge from the wreckage, that would be taking money out of the troll's pocket.
(Score: 2) by khchung on Sunday April 12 2015, @03:30AM
Yes, it may look like the trolls are blocking a bridge they aren't even profiting from. But unlike bridges, games (and most forms of entertainment) are somewhat fungible. So by stopping *everyone* from playing this particular game, *some* would eventually buy some other games, which means money in their pocket.
(Score: 4, Informative) by sjames on Sunday April 12 2015, @04:12AM
There is that. Given that it causes more loss of value for others than they gain, it is more akin to crime than commerce.