Gretech and KeSPA Deadlocked - Page 13

On June 10 2010 04:04 red_b wrote:


Depends on the ability to have the courts grant an injunction against KeSPA / the broadcasters.

I want to point out something that a lot of people are not getting in this thread; just because its in an EULA (or any contract) does NOT mean that is the end all, be all legal situation that cannot be broken. There are limitations on all contracts (usually dealing with interactions with other laws e.g. you cannot contract someone to rob a bank or steal a car for you and then sue them when they dont do it) and Blizzard, despite putting all of this stuff in their EULA for Starcraft 2 may not have the legal capability to stop broadcast of games, replays, maps, etcetera if the Korean courts decide that the terms in the EULA are not legal.

EULAs fit a certain number of legal definitions that modify their enforceability relative to negotiated contracts, as well. The Korean courts could very well look at Blizzard claiming to own content created by end users and decide that it's not fair to the end user and simply void that language. I dont know how contract law works in Korea, maybe one of our fine South Korean members can illuminate that area.

And let's try to look at this less from who is the good guy and who is the bad guy in the legal or strictly moral sense, lets look at who is the good guy and who is the bad guy for the fans and the players. Legality should be secondary, shouldnt it? It's not like Blizzard needs this money, they will be fine without it. If KeSPA loses then BW on TV may very well go away. You may be watching sudden attack on OGN or MBC and that would be 1000 times worse wouldnt it?

BTW I have an analogy I think actually fits since it is a software analogy.

What would happen if Adobe claimed ownership of everything made with photoshop, like end user pictures, brushes, automated actions, etc? I mean, if they could make the same claim as Blizzard, I bet they could walk into the office of every major news paper or blog and demand compensation and then if it wasnt given they could sue them.

I wonder if they would win? Because I seriously doubt it.

On June 10 2010 04:40 Drunken Argument wrote:

Your analogy is off because you think Blizzard is trying to claim the content created by users (replays, etc.). That's wrong.

Ownership.
Game clients and Service.
The Game clients and the Service (including without limitation any titles, computer code, themes, objects, characters, character names, stories, dialogue, catch phrases, concepts, artwork, animations, sounds, musical compositions, audio-visual effects, methods of operation, moral rights, documentation, in-game chat transcripts, character profile information, recordings or replays of Games, and the Game client and server software) are copyrighted works owned by Blizzard and its licensors.

On June 10 2010 05:39 jpak wrote:
Well, from what I've garnered here, I have to say this.

Farewell, BW. Thanks for the 12-year ride you've given us.

On June 10 2010 05:48 wiesel wrote:


There's 2 options. 1) Either they don't negotiate and go to court, which means it takes at least a few years to handle this. Bw will continue so long.
2) Kespa makes a deal with blizzard. Bw will continue

So theres no danger fror broodwar in my eyes.

On June 10 2010 06:02 jpak wrote:


If it was the US, the number 1 option will be feasable. First of all, it takes a year for a case to reach court, and that decision can be appealed 2 or 3 times until u get to the supreme court, so certainly in the U.S.

Not sure about Korea, though.

Oh, and option number 2 is becoming a bit out of reach. Just a bit.

Ownership.
Game clients and Service.
The Game clients and the Service (including without limitation any titles, computer code, themes, objects, characters, character names, stories, dialogue, catch phrases, concepts, artwork, animations, sounds, musical compositions, audio-visual effects, methods of operation, moral rights, documentation, in-game chat transcripts, character profile information, recordings or replays of Games, and the Game client and server software) are copyrighted works owned by Blizzard and its licensors..

On June 09 2010 06:51 SuperArc wrote:
Fuck you, Blizzard.

Oh and fuck you too, Kespa.

On June 10 2010 06:46 immacolate wrote:


haha how to hell blizzard owns catchphrases (unit responses) when they stole them from cult movies, including "Aliens" and "Full Metal Jacket"

On June 10 2010 08:25 adelarge wrote:


Lol, what the hell, seriously blizzard? What's next? Are you going to registrate "soldier in big ass power armor" and then charge games workshop?

On June 09 2010 07:50 Liquid`NonY wrote:

Blizzard hasn't helped KeSPA at all? =/

StarCraft was popular in Korea before KeSPA existed. KeSPA formed around the StarCraft phenomenon. If Blizzard hadn't put an awesome game in the hands of so many Koreans, KeSPA probably wouldn't exist.

On June 10 2010 06:07 wiesel wrote:


Dont know what your trying to say. It takes a year and more to reach court and it's Blizzard/gretech who will have to go to court to stop the broadcasting, like you said, Bw will be fine so far.
And this is Korea , US law plays no role in this scenario.

On June 09 2010 23:25 Diminotoor wrote:


It seems that you don't understand how sports change over the years, its the top players who find new things and then eventually certain aspects become either broken or need adjusting and therefore it does in fact become a player-created game. Its not at all like saying Tiger Woods owns golf but losing him certainly would be a big blow for Pro Golf so its in their best interest to keep him around (the latest scandal made that very clear if you follow sports at all)..

There's a reason I specifically didn't use NCAA. I foresaw someone saying something like this and picked something that's large-scale but mostly located within a single country hoping someone would respond like this so thanks in a sense. If you have a sport that is already internationally-rooted and you dissolve the original council responsible for game management, team management, etc, then yes eventually it will recover just based on the popularity of the sport. If you are dissolving the governing body or "The Big Cheese" as we'll call it from here on out of a sport or event that does NOT have this kind of popularity or deep-rooted history (E-Sports is even less so than the NBA I should have used like... NFL or something) then the blow is far more severe. Failure to see the minute yet significant differences here will cause your opinion to be wildly offtrack.

On June 10 2010 06:07 wiesel wrote:


Dont know what your trying to say. It takes a year and more to reach court and it's Blizzard/gretech who will have to go to court to stop the broadcasting, like you said, Bw will be fine so far.
And this is Korea , US law plays no role in this scenario.