[Update] KeSPA Speaks Out On Intellectual Property Rights…

On May 04 2010 23:48 Reborn8u wrote:
1. People saying esports wouldn't exist without kespa, prove it. It's in fact easy to prove the opposite in how many other esports organizations and tournaments exist.

2. People saying Blizzard is being greedy, it's their product and all revenues generated from it are rightfully theirs. As someone stated before, can you use mickey mouse, or a windows logo in any advertisement without disney or microsofts clear permissions? No, you cannot they will sue you. Does kespa get permissions when they use and televise Blizzard's intellectual properties? No, they don't. They are stealing, and have been for a long time and Blizzard has let it go where BW is concerned. But if software company doesn't defend it's copyrights they will go out of business.

3. People making all this fuss about "it's on tv". How many of you live in Korea and even get to see this on TV? How many of you just watch it in VOD form like every other esports and tournament organization around the world?

4. MLG has full time pro teams, gets tv coverage on espn and formerly usa network. Has millions of viewers to it's events, over 10000 people show up to it's events in person (and pay to get in!) and they are already supporting the beta on gamebattles. Artosis had great things to say about them in his last weekly. I believe that MLG will support SC2 long term because it will be profitable to as long as there are enough fans, and the release of expansions will give SC2 longevity. MLG has existed for almost a decade with 0 scandals! When they wanted they're top halo team to not compete in other halo tournaments they gave them a 1 million dollar contract to facilitate it. Kespa on the other hand has used the looming threat of pulling a gamers license to do this.
MLG > KESPA

5. Do you not see how evil kespa really is? The implications in the gambling scandal are that their officials have been involved, kespa has been aware of this for YEARS and actually sat down with the ILLEGAL gambling companies in secret meetings to see if they could co-exist. Kespa has been all about secrecy on a lot of controversy because they have a lot to hide. They use pro licenses to maintain a monopoly over esports in korea, which in my opinion would be huge there, with or without them because of the enormous fan base. They have shown their own incompetence several times in the past. They are for profit and yet a governmental organization of south korea. If your saying that nothing else similar exists in south korea it's probably because kespa won't allow it to and actively seeks out and destroys competition in their business by exerting the power of their government sanctioned monopoly. Kespa attempted to sell the broadcasting rights for starcraft in 2007, but it's not their intellectual property, it's blizzard's. I'd be pissed too! Kespa is a parasitic organization, they use the players, and they use intellectual property that doesn't belong to them for profit meanwhile claiming all the credit for the existence of esports.

6. We can argue all day about the points of this but at the end of the day kespa looses. They were fools for challenging Blizzard in the first place. Blizzard is going to control the fate of SC2 not kespa. Blizzard will profit, rightfully so, from the use of sc2 for advertising and kespa will go broke. The release of Sc2 will deplete BW's fan base more and more as time goes on.

None of us really know what the future of Starcraft or esports is, but kespa has sealed their own fate. The only way for our questions and concerns to be addressed is time. We'll all just have to wait and see. One thing to be sure, the amount of fans is the #1 determining factor in the future of esports and starcraft, not kespa and not blizzard.

On May 05 2010 01:19 Garaman wrote:

1. without Kespa members, who would finance the pro gaming teams currently? I think 11 of the teams have membership on the board. what would happen if all these huge sponsors pulled out? i mean they are the biggest titans in korean's economy mostly. who will eat the cost of sponsoring all those pro gaming teams? defintely not blizzard.

2. Korea bought licencsing rights for SC:BW.
are you kidding me? blizzard was stupid enough to sell it at a cheap price since they didn't see any future in e-sports and paid the price. your bias towards blizzard is amazing.

3. how many of us actually stay up and use the streams provided to us by Daum/etc?

4. how long do you really think an RTS game will last in the US market for marketability?
history has shown us that mostly FPS, sports games like madden, and WOW are the cash cows of the US. C&C 3 died out quick. is War3 even alive? and Dota... that aint even a RTS, its more FPS than RTS.

5. i thought the ppl under investigation for the gambling scene was players throwing games, and their relationship with bookies. we know kespa is a money hungry bastard. but at least they continue to finance korean progaming. you know for damn sure blizzard is just as greedy and i can see them pulling out if they don't see immediate returns on investments. they are not in this for the long haul, they want someone else to do all the work and reap all the profits from it. why else would they eliminate LAN? they must go through blizzards bnet to play ne games. I cant wait to see China hack SC2, you know its coming. they will defintely add a lan feature to the game and pirate the shit out of it. they never much cared for copy right laws, but this will be the first time i full support them in this cheating endevor.

6. in the end, e-sports loses. the fans loses. the players loses. Kespa is mostly multi million/billion dollar industries who don't necessarily need e-sports for their revenue. its just a nice piece of change, but the fact of the matter is, the only ones who suffer are the fans, the players and the sport itself. blizzard and kespa dont need e-sports to succeed. kespa as an organization does, but not as sole members.

i just dont see e-sports suceeding for an RTS outside of Asia and maybe europe.
it will never succeed in the USA, where it can be shown on prime time television with multiple team sponsorships and a regular league instead of the bullshit once a year WCG or blizzcon.
whatever though, i hope they settle their differences.
korean scene is just so much more epic than the foreigner counterparts.

On May 04 2010 11:14 Hot_Bid wrote:
While your first response may be "yes, ofc Blizzard has CP rights, it made the game!!", looking at it from a copyright perspective (I'm not a copyright lawyer so don't quote me), Blizzard may not have rights to secondary user generated content, even if they specify this in their licensing agreements.

For example, does the person who invented baseball have rights to ticket proceeds of every single baseball game ever played? A few years ago there was a movie about people doing NY Times crossword puzzles, does the NYT have rights to proceeds from that movie because it depicted people playing their game?

Its not a black and white issue at all and will probably be litigated at some point, and if I had to go with my gut, I'd say its pretty close to swinging either way, at least with a US court.

On May 04 2010 11:14 Hot_Bid wrote:
While your first response may be "yes, ofc Blizzard has CP rights, it made the game!!", looking at it from a copyright perspective (I'm not a copyright lawyer so don't quote me), Blizzard may not have rights to secondary user generated content, even if they specify this in their licensing agreements.

For example, does the person who invented baseball have rights to ticket proceeds of every single baseball game ever played? A few years ago there was a movie about people doing NY Times crossword puzzles, does the NYT have rights to proceeds from that movie because it depicted people playing their game?

Its not a black and white issue at all and will probably be litigated at some point, and if I had to go with my gut, I'd say its pretty close to swinging either way, at least with a US court.

[데일리e스포츠 남윤성 기자] 초상권-성명권도 기업에 없다?

블리자드의 협상 요구안 가운데 이해되지 않는 부분은 또 있다. 각 기업이 계약을 통해 확보하고 있는 선수들에 대한 권리도 요구한 것으로 확인됐다.

블리자드가 2007년부터 한국e스포츠협회와의 협상에 내놓은 요구 사항에는 '모든 대회를 통해 프로게이머와 계약할 수 있는 권리를 갖는다'라는 조항이 있는 것으로 알려졌다. 이는 현재 프로게이머와 계약을 체결하고 있는 기업들을 무시하는 처사라 할 수 있다.

1999년부터 프로게임단이 창설되고 기업이 운영하는 게임단이 확대되면서 선수들의 초상권과 성명권은 한국e스포츠협회에 귀속되어 있다. 기업이 선수들과의 계약을 통해 연봉이나 인센티브 등을 지급하고 있는 상황에서 블리자드의 선수와 관련된 요구는 무리하다는 비판이 일고 있다.

블리자드의 요구 사항이 수용된다면 공군을 제외한 11개 프로게임단은 프로게이머를 육성하더라도 블리자드와 또 하나의 계약을 성사해야 한다. 연봉은 기업이 주고 블리자드가 필요할 때면 내줘야 하는 상황에 처한다. 이는 프로게임단을 운영하고 있는 기업에 대한 권리 침해로 해석할 수 있는 부분이다.

[데일리e스포츠 남윤성 기자] 초상권-성명권도 기업에 없다?

블리자드의 협상 요구안 가운데 이해되지 않는 부분은 또 있다. 각 기업이 계약을 통해 확보하고 있는 선수들에 대한 권리도 요구한 것으로 확인됐다.

블리자드가 2007년부터 한국e스포츠협회와의 협상에 내놓은 요구 사항에는 '모든 대회를 통해 프로게이머와 계약할 수 있는 권리를 갖는다'라는 조항이 있는 것으로 알려졌다. 이는 현재 프로게이머와 계약을 체결하고 있는 기업들을 무시하는 처사라 할 수 있다.

1999년부터 프로게임단이 창설되고 기업이 운영하는 게임단이 확대되면서 선수들의 초상권과 성명권은 한국e스포츠협회에 귀속되어 있다. 기업이 선수들과의 계약을 통해 연봉이나 인센티브 등을 지급하고 있는 상황에서 블리자드의 선수와 관련된 요구는 무리하다는 비판이 일고 있다.

블리자드의 요구 사항이 수용된다면 공군을 제외한 11개 프로게임단은 프로게이머를 육성하더라도 블리자드와 또 하나의 계약을 성사해야 한다. 연봉은 기업이 주고 블리자드가 필요할 때면 내줘야 하는 상황에 처한다. 이는 프로게임단을 운영하고 있는 기업에 대한 권리 침해로 해석할 수 있는 부분이다.