WCS
Official KeSPA Statement, English version
Kespa e-mailed various foreign e-sports sites their official English version of their statement. Here it is.
KeSPA & 12 Pro Game Teams
Express Regret at Blizzard’s one-way interview saying final split with KeSPA
KeSPA tries to resume negotiations for e-Sports fans
Express Regret at Blizzard’s one-way interview saying final split with KeSPA
KeSPA tries to resume negotiations for e-Sports fans
Korea e-Sports Association (President Cho, Ki Haeng, www.e-sports.or.kr) said “Although, KeSPA has negotiated with Blizzard sincerely and faithfully for last three years, U.S.-based game developer Blizzard confirmed final split with KeSPA through a media interview without any prior notice. We expressed our deep regret to that.” Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime told a Korean media on April 23 in its headquarters in Irvine, California, U.S. that IP rights negotiations with KeSPA finally reached an impasse, so the company is looking for a new partner”.
Choi, Won-Je, the Secretary-general of KeSPA, told “Because Blizzard had asked NDA (Non-disclosure agreement) on the negotiations, we didn’t comment on this matter to keep faith”. “However, Blizzard said it seized the negotiations one-sidedly through interview and it significantly distorted the truth about the reason of split. That’s the reason to indicate our stance,” added the Secretary-general.
▶ All pro game teams including Broadcasters agree to take joint action
All board members of KeSPA including Ongame Network and MBC Game reached an agreement to set the KeSPA as a contact point to negotiate and take joint action against Blizzard’s issue as well. KeSPA and pro game teams express their stance on this issue like below.
▶ Controversial on accepted range of original IP rights in e-Sports
e-Sports is a kind of future-oriented industry dealing with game. It can be considered that e-Sports is located between ‘Game industry’ and ‘Sports Entertainment’. It is not only a place for satisfying customers and generating revenue for game developers, but a place of PR and Marketing for enterprises.
It needs a mutual cooperation among game developers, e-Sports organizations and associations when a game to be developed as an e-Sports title because of the characteristic of e-Sports above. However, if game industries assert their rights to maximize the pursuit of profits after their games become core e-Sports title, it can be serious obstacles for e-Sports to take roots as future-oriented entertainment industry.
KeSPA has expressed its position of being willing to pay for a rational level of usage fee and appeal its support of marketing and promotion for product line-up of Blizzard with continuous investment such as sharing all contents which belong to KeSPA like pro gamers, broadcasting and sponsorship.
However, Blizzard has asserted not the right as a copyright but unreasonable demands as following.
1. Set the contract term for using its games to 1 year
2. Prior approvals about all league operations such as contracting sponsorship, marketing materials, broadcasting plan
3. License fee for running of league and all license fee of sponsorship inducement
4. Ownership of all broadcasted programs, program videos
5. Right to audit KeSPA
Through 3-year negotiations, KeSPA requested Blizzard to withdraw or change some unacceptable conditions to protect the rights and interests of professional gamers, teams and e-Sports fans. Even KeSPA suggested positive cooperation including marketing supports etc, Blizzard has stuck to their principle, not to resume the negotiation, till the KeSPA accept all conditions. But recently, Blizzard distorted the truth of breakdown, claiming KeSPA didn’t admit Blizzard’s IP rights request without unveiling its excessive demand conditions.
▶ The IP rights negotiation process between KeSPA and Blizzard
In Feb, 2007, Blizzard sent ‘official document to forbid Starcraft broadcasting contract’ to KeSPA through its law firm. Then after, KeSPA has negotiated with Blizzard about all the conditions including broadcasting rights. Actually, during 3 years, KeSPA met Blizzard just few times and Blizzard postponed or resumed the negotiations one-sidedly by reason of launch schedule of Starcraft2 .
On June, 2009, KeSPA and Blizzard resumed the negotiation before the releasing Starcraft2, but Blizzard seized it again unilaterally. Then after, KeSPA requested to resume the negotiations and meet Mike Morhaime directly but Blizzard kept the silent regarding and urged to accept the conditions.
▶ KeSPA tries to resume negotiations to protect right to see of e-Sports fans
KeSPA said there still remain many problems on negotiations with Blizzard, it will readily resume negotiations again at any time to protect right to see of e-Sports fans and continue its development with a broad view. KeSPA already sent an official document to CEO Mike Morhaime to request of resume negotiations. KeSPA and all pro game teams plan to hold joint press conference sometime soon if it needed. Fin.
Here is my initial translation of the Korean document.
A few weeks ago, Mike Morhaime dropped a bomb during a Yonhap News interview announcing that Blizzard would cease negotiating with KeSPA as an E-Sports partner in Korea. On may 3rd, KeSPA hit back with their response by releasing their official statement to various Korean media outlets.
Here is my translation of KeSPA's statement, which I acquired through Fomos.
http://www.fomos.kr/board/board.php?mode=read&keyno=106401&db=issue
Is it too much to ask for some responsible sourcing?
A united response, from the broadcasters and the pro-gaming teams.
All of the companies on KeSPA’s board of directors recognize KeSPA as their sole representative, and have agreed to act together in the negotiations with Blizzard regarding intellectual property rights. The stance of the association and the pro-game teams on the breakdown in negotiations with Blizzard is as follows.
How far does the creator’s copyright extend in E-sports?
E-sports is a newly emerging sports industry based around video games, and is a gaming business as well as a sports-entertainment business that provides game developers an opportunity to increase revenue and customer satisfaction, and provides sponsors the opportunity to promote and market their products. Taking these features into consideration, if a game is to become a popular E-sports competition, the game developer and the E-sports organization must have a flexible relationship. If a game achieves success as an iconic E-sports competition (note: KeSPA does not name Starcraft specifically), and the developer pursues profits by declaring that their copyright is valid in the sports industry as well, then that is a large obstacle for E-sports’ growth and establishment as a future sports-entertainment industry.
Despite this, the association has attempted to preserve the fans’ rights as spectators by recognizing Blizzard’s copyright from the very beginning of the negotiations. The association promised Blizzard the continued marketing and promotional support of their products through the use of all our resources including players, teams and broadcasting, and constant investment including the obtainment of sponsorships, as well as expressing an interest in paying a reasonable usage fee for their products. However, Blizzard would have limited the usage period of a game to only one year (note: I have no idea what the heck this means), which would make it difficult to run a stable E-sports league. In addition, Blizzard requests that all aspects of league management would have be authorized by them beforehand, including the acquiring of sponsorships, marketing planning and broadcast planning. Furthermore, Blizzard made other unreasonable requests beyond the rights of the copyright holder, such as royalties and sub-licensing fees on sponsorships and broadcasting fees, the right to audit KeSPA’s finances, as well as ownership of secondary content created through our unique resources in the teams, players, and broadcasting expertise.
Until now, the association has requested that Blizzard withdraw their demands that would interfere with the rights and well-being of the players, teams, broadcasters and fans, while expressing our desire to continue assisting Blizzard as the original copyright holder with our resources. However, Blizzard continued to hold the policy that they would not return to the negotiation table until the association accepted their demands. Blizzard has stayed silent about their unreasonable demands, while distorting the situation around the breakdown into negotiations by claiming it is due to the association’s refusal to recognize their intellectual property rights.
The process of the negotiations
In February of 2007, the association received a request for the ‘cessation of broadcast contracts regarding Starcraft’ (note: this refers to the broadcasting rights scandal of 2007, where KeSPA tried to sell the rights to broadcast Starcraft leagues) from Blizzard’s legal representatives, and we began negotiations on broadcasting rights and several other matters. While it has been three years since then, very few times did we actually sit down to talk, while Blizzard would arbitrarily halt or reopen negotiations depending on the progress of Starcraft II’s development. When Starcraft II’s release date became more clear last June, the negotiations opened again, only to stopped by Blizzard after the game’s release was delayed. While KeSPA has asked several times to continue negotiations or to speak with Blizzard’s Michael Morhaime, Blizzard continued to ask us to change our stance, or met us with silence completely.
Continuing to work for the rights of E-sports fans
While problems still remain in the negotiations between the Korea E-Sports Association and Blizzard, we are always willing to continue negotiations for the sake of E-sports fans and the development of the E-sports market as a whole. To that end, we have sent an official request to Mike Morhaime of Blizzard to re-open the negotiations. If it is necessary in the future, the association and the pro-game teams are willing to hold a joint press conference on this matter as well.
