EPTWhat will probably end up happening is that Blizzard will agree to royalties once they realize that KeSPA's monopoly on e-sports in the region can't be broken. I assume they were originally banking on some of the senior board members like CJ Media splintering off to maximize the royalty revenue and control of leagues by forming multiple partnerships, but KeSPA's response seems to indicate that they're unified in their stance. Then KeSPA will continue to host leagues as usual and Blizzard will have this sweet deal where you can watch live and on-demand KeSPA league games right from your Battle.net client. At least, that's what I'd want to happen =(
[Update] KeSPA Speaks Out On Intellectual Property Rights…
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Excalibur_Z
United States12237 Posts
What will probably end up happening is that Blizzard will agree to royalties once they realize that KeSPA's monopoly on e-sports in the region can't be broken. I assume they were originally banking on some of the senior board members like CJ Media splintering off to maximize the royalty revenue and control of leagues by forming multiple partnerships, but KeSPA's response seems to indicate that they're unified in their stance. Then KeSPA will continue to host leagues as usual and Blizzard will have this sweet deal where you can watch live and on-demand KeSPA league games right from your Battle.net client. At least, that's what I'd want to happen =( | ||
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Geoube
Canada67 Posts
I have nothing against Kespa, and I dont think Blizzard should have SO many rights, but right now they do. So in a way I hope kespa wins this so that esports isnt stiffled | ||
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Kazeyonoma
United States2912 Posts
On May 04 2010 09:25 Geoube wrote: i dont get how kespa can win this fight. would it really be that hard for Blizzard to create their own league in Korea? I mean unless a judge makes a monumental ruling, then blizzard has all the cards and the players will join them, leaving kespa with nothing. I have nothing against Kespa, and I dont think Blizzard should have SO many rights, but right now they do. So in a way I hope kespa wins this so that esports isnt stiffled How will esports be stiffed because Blizzard has a say in what goes on in the tournaments (even if it's run by itself or a designated one -aka GoMTV? Anyone?) Where was the flaws in that? I don't think Blizzard getting involved is a bad thing at all, since it won't likely do anything "zomgwrong" since any such act would likely affect it's own profits as well as KeSPA or whichever organization walks away with the Blizzard backing from this. I think people who are making Blizzard out to be "badguys" here don't realize that Blizzard has nothing to GAIN by being a bad guy, they just want to make sure they can be held accountable for the actions that their korean partners make, and without some sort of say in the upper management, they can get into big trouble, even if it's just public relations wise if they are later targetted by the media as "supporting" KeSPA if KeSPA later does things that are seen as "bad" or "immoral" (not that we have any reason to believe KeSPA will do this, it's just a fail safe). | ||
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Mallard
United States129 Posts
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DTDominion
United States2148 Posts
On May 04 2010 09:25 Geoube wrote: i dont get how kespa can win this fight. would it really be that hard for Blizzard to create their own league in Korea? I mean unless a judge makes a monumental ruling, then blizzard has all the cards and the players will join them, leaving kespa with nothing. I have nothing against Kespa, and I dont think Blizzard should have SO many rights, but right now they do. So in a way I hope kespa wins this so that esports isnt stiffled I explained this in an earlier post, but by making such a huge power play, Blizzard is pissing off all the people actually involved in putting together an e-sports league. How are they going to get sponsors and TV channels over to their side when they're giving them such a worse deal than KeSPA is. The one strategy Blizzard could succeed with is offering a better deal to the actual players, but I question whether they'd really do something that smart. | ||
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zealing
Canada806 Posts
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Mortality
United States4790 Posts
For about the past decade, Blizzard has put very little resources into Starcraft. They have fundamentally left the game to the community. KeSPA became the leading figure in the community and assumed the power it was left with in the vacuum that was left by Blizzard essentially shrugging its shoulders and saying "Starcraft is a completed game." So KeSPA got more and more powerful as the teams realized they needed some kind of unifying body. That's not to say that KeSPA is an entirely honest organization, but that they are fundamentally more of a necessity for e-sports to function than most TL.netters give credit to. TLnet has a fundamentally negative view of KeSPA. We think of GOM being canceled, of Flash's game being forfeited, of players being disqualified for saying "pp" instead of "ppp." But the reality is that e-sports functions much more smoothly and with much less corruption with them in power than it used to before. But now Blizzard has their new hot tamale on the runway and realizes it's missing it on a big piece of pie. But KeSPA's thinking "this is our pie." | ||
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heyitsme
153 Posts
On May 04 2010 09:30 Kazeyonoma wrote: I think people who are making Blizzard out to be "badguys" here don't realize that Blizzard has nothing to GAIN by being a bad guy, they just want to make sure they can be held accountable for the actions that their korean partners make, and without some sort of say in the upper management, they can get into big trouble, even if it's just public relations wise if they are later targetted by the media as "supporting" KeSPA if KeSPA later does things that are seen as "bad" or "immoral" (not that we have any reason to believe KeSPA will do this, it's just a fail safe). Exactly this... imagine if a scandal happens, something along the lines of ''young korean dies because of inhuman practice schedules'' Blizzard would be in deep trouble because they're located in America and they will take some flak over here. | ||
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Grobyc
Canada18410 Posts
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Reborn8u
United States1761 Posts
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InToTheWannaB
United States4770 Posts
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Day[9]
United States7366 Posts
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phyvo
United States5635 Posts
On May 04 2010 08:10 floor exercise wrote: I think this is also within their rights to own content that is derived from their base work. It wouldn't exist without them. I don't think these are "beyond the rights of the copyright holder" like Kespa claims. Of course copyright law varies by country so it's difficult to say, and they aren't being specific about what kind of secondary content it is. My guess is it just comes down to dollars and cents at the end of the day, like almost everything in this world. We don't know what kind of royalty fees they are asking and things like that. Other than the 1 year broadcasting term, nothing to me seems absurd in their demands. Eh, I wouldn't be so quick to say "yeah Blizzard owns all that secondary content, gogo Blizzard!" I mean, consider Spore. You have thousands of creative people making all sorts of stuff and uploading it using Spore's editors. Yet none of those content creators, or players, actually own the art they are creating. In most cases this isn't a tragedy (I mean most people suck at creating things), but considering that most art and content is derivative somehow it makes me question secondary ownership rights in general. That said, the actual legality of all this is going to be mostly concerning technical details most of us know nothing whatsoever about. Still it sounds to me like KESPA is barking but doesn't really have enough bite to bring Blizzard back to the table. [edit] holy crud, is that the same Day[9] who's always so happy telling people about starcraft awesomeness through the interwebs? That was scay. O.O | ||
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Robinsa
Japan1333 Posts
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rotinegg
United States1719 Posts
On May 04 2010 09:49 Day[9] wrote: rot in hell KeSPA. Seriously, I hope KeSPA tanks with the release of SC2. I absolutely despise KeSPA. I used to, but if kespa's statement is proven true, i equally despise blizzard. rot in hell KeSPA. I hope blizzard tanks with the release of SC2. I absolutely despise blizzard. | ||
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johnlee
United States242 Posts
On May 04 2010 07:30 Waxangel wrote: ...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. OOOOOOOOkay. Now this is just ridiculous. You guys DO realize that if KeSPA goes along with THESE terms, eSPORTS as we know it now is completely gone. Forget all of your past hating on KeSPA for "ppp" or other faggot rules. If Blizzard especially acqires "all aspects" of league management, the pro-scene in Korea is fucking dead. Fucking dead. | ||
snowdrift
France2061 Posts
On May 04 2010 09:25 Geoube wrote: i dont get how kespa can win this fight. would it really be that hard for Blizzard to create their own league in Korea? I mean unless a judge makes a monumental ruling, then blizzard has all the cards and the players will join them, leaving kespa with nothing. I have nothing against Kespa, and I dont think Blizzard should have SO many rights, but right now they do. So in a way I hope kespa wins this so that esports isnt stiffled I don't think Blizzard has any intention of making the investments required to run their own leagues. They want to sublet the whole thing, which is understandable -- they're only game developers (what's less justifiable is that they nonetheless want to control the scene). So Blizzard needs broadcasters and sponsored players. They did find the former with GOMTV, but they never found the latter since GOMTV was basically leeching off of KeSPA. And if Blizzard isn't going to start running leagues, they sure as hell aren't going to start running a bunch of teams. On May 04 2010 09:34 zealing wrote: id go with Blizz, never forgive kespa for ppp > That's called making perfect the enemy of the good. You're willing to trade an imperfect reality -- professional Starcraft, the only proscene in the world -- for a Blizzard-run fantasy. On May 04 2010 09:49 Day[9] wrote: rot in hell KeSPA. Seriously, I hope KeSPA tanks with the release of SC2. I absolutely despise KeSPA. Yeah, rot in hell OGN, MBC and all the teams that brought us our regular pro SC for years! | ||
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T.O.P.
Hong Kong4685 Posts
On May 04 2010 09:10 Baarn wrote: Blizzard doesn't have to go to court. There isn't a LAN feature. So KeSPA would have to modify the game to be able to continue their operations cause nobody cares about broodbore. If they did that then Blizzard would definitely have the upper hand with TRIPS laws in international court. Kespas response would be an complete censorship on Starcraft2. Effectively taking Blizzard down with them. On May 04 2010 09:25 Geoube wrote: i dont get how kespa can win this fight. would it really be that hard for Blizzard to create their own league in Korea? I mean unless a judge makes a monumental ruling, then blizzard has all the cards and the players will join them, leaving kespa with nothing. I have nothing against Kespa, and I dont think Blizzard should have SO many rights, but right now they do. So in a way I hope kespa wins this so that esports isnt stiffled Who'll pay the players? The main sponsors are lined up with Kespa. Then the Korean Government will give some bullshit that esports leagues have to be approved by the ministry of culture or w/e and they'll be able to block it. On May 04 2010 09:30 Mallard wrote: If Blizzard releases the game in South Korea do they have to adhere to South Korea's business laws or since they are an American company do American laws apply? Assuming courts were fair I am curious as to who actually has the legal power here. Of course they have to follow Korean law. Extraterritoriality only applies to military personnels nowadays. | ||
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Senx
Sweden5901 Posts
On May 04 2010 09:49 Day[9] wrote: rot in hell KeSPA. Seriously, I hope KeSPA tanks with the release of SC2. I absolutely despise KeSPA. So you seriously believe a e-sport scene will exist in korea without kespa ( ie the ruleset, teams, players, sponsors, tv channels) ? It makes me sad when people just dismiss kespa as a organization e-sport in SKorea doesn't actually need, beacuse they do..despite their wrong decisions throughout the years. Don't come here and tell me that Blizzard will magicly manage to create a separate SC2 scene to coexist with the current SC:BW scene in SKorea. It's either up to Kespa or we'll have a very small and lackluster SC2 scene or in worst case, no real sc2 pro scene at all. | ||
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SuperXlax
United States197 Posts
On May 04 2010 09:55 johnlee wrote: OOOOOOOOkay. Now this is just ridiculous. You guys DO realize that if KeSPA goes along with THESE terms, eSPORTS as we know it now is completely gone. Forget all of your past hating on KeSPA for "ppp" or other faggot rules. If Blizzard especially acqires "all aspects" of league management, the pro-scene in Korea is fucking dead. Fucking dead. What? It would just have to be authorized by them, they wouldn't be changing anything about it, jeez. | ||
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