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Dear Teamliquid,
I have been in and around this site for nearly 5 years now, though I I post only once in a blue moon. I've enjoyed watching both Broodwar and Starcraft II and Pro Starcraft has constantly been a part of my life since I found this place.
A couple years ago, I received the privilege of being accepted to Harvard Law School. This summer, I had the opportunity to write a comment for the Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, and I decided that what I most want to discuss was Starcraft broadcasting and copyright, including the whole Kespa vs. Blizzard lawsuit.
My comment has just been published today and can be read on the Journal Digest. I'm not sure how interesting it will be for people that already know all about the game, since it's written for a lay audience that knows about the law, but I wanted to share it with you here, since Teamliquid helped make it possible.
So, I'd just like to give a huge thank you to Teamliquid, especially to the efforts of everyone that translated articles and recorded the history of Starcraft on Liquipedia. This paper would not have been possible without your help.
Sincerely,
Anarion
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Congrats man not only on getting there but on doing an article on something you love which is not mainstream rather than sticking to something that is more generic
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Nice article, the timing of this is pretty spectacular 
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Wow this is awesome, thank you!
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I read it all and found it interesting and well documented (for what I can tell anyway).
I can't really make a useful comment, just nice job ! =)
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Nice!
If you got graded on this I hope you got an A.
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Hoyl shit, it's christmas already? Does this mean we may actually get some opinions from truly unbiased 3rd party on this matter? :D
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Nice! Good work
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Yeah nice article for sure
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Wow, this was a great read, from a non-initiated standpoint at least.
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Wow, perfect timing man, this is great. Mad respect Anarion.
Thx for shaing.
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Very well written Anarion.
There are a few things you could have added though; for instance, you mentioned the broadcasts are for profit but the studios and tournaments KeSPA hosted (OSL/MSL/PL/special tournaments) were free to attend at the same time. The money they were making was coming from cable, sponsors, advertising and exposure. Licensing fees too as you said, which was a big no no and that's when Blizzard truly stepped in.
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Great timing, awesome stuff. Glad to see sc2 being represented at that level
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a few things I'd like to correct here
-The game's success can be more attributed to the PC Bang phenomenon, instead of Korea's focus on its internet infrastucture. Not very significant, but a small detail that could be corrected.
-KeSPA as an organization never banned its players from the GOM Classics, which lasted up to 2009. The lawsuits occured 2010. The interview you hotlinked with "KeSPA prevented Gretech from running any leagues" has nothing to do with those words, and should be corrected.
-KeSPA is a non-profit organization, and the Broodwar leagues were always available free of charge (with the exception of the very first BW league, which charged an entrance fee for the finals). Would that tilt the free-use argument in KeSPA's favor?
I wanted to ask a few questions about the whole "licensed to use rather than own the software", but I'm running out of time and I gtg. I really enjoyed reading it!
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On August 25 2012 10:13 JiPrime wrote:
Hoyl shit, it's christmas already? Does this mean we may actually get some opinions from truly unbiased 3rd party on this matter? :D
...
Dude I question whether or not you actually read stuff before you post let alone think about what you actually post.
He just said he's been following SC:BW and SC2 for almost 5 years yet he rarely posts.
READ
asdf
It's one thing to make a typo or just randomly type KT instead of SKT1 when you start theorycrafting about BoxeR's intentions lmao.
Come on now.
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Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated.
On August 25 2012 11:49 StarStruck wrote:
Very well written Anarion.
There are a few things you could have added though; for instance, you mentioned the broadcasts are for profit but the studios and tournaments KeSPA hosted (OSL/MSL/PL/special tournaments) were free to attend at the same time. The money they were making was coming from cable, sponsors, advertising and exposure. Licensing fees too as you said, which was a big no no and that's when Blizzard truly stepped in.
I had a longer section about sponsors, but it was cut by my editor, unfortunately. This paper is directed more at the American legal system, so the details of how the Korean tournaments made their money were considered less relevant.
On August 25 2012 11:58 ArvickHero wrote:
a few things I'd like to correct here
-The game's success can be more attributed to the PC Bang phenomenon, instead of Korea's focus on its internet infrastucture. Not very significant, but a small detail that could be corrected.
-KeSPA as an organization never banned its players from the GOM Classics, which lasted up to 2009. The lawsuits occured 2010. The interview you hotlinked with "KeSPA prevented Gretech from running any leagues" has nothing to do with those words, and should be corrected.
-KeSPA is a non-profit organization, and the Broodwar leagues were always available free of charge (with the exception of the very first BW league, which charged an entrance fee for the finals). Would that tilt the free-use argument in KeSPA's favor?
I wanted to ask a few questions about the whole "licensed to use rather than own the software", but I'm running out of time and I gtg. I really enjoyed reading it!
Could you explain the comment about KeSPA not banning its players a little more? I was under the impression that the reason most of the GOM leagues stopped running was because KeSPA players were no longer able to participate.
Being free to enter doesn't necessarily matter. They were putting them on TV from early on, so somebody was profiting based on the advertising revenue and the advertising revenue comes in because advertisers want their adds showed when lots of people are wathcing. Starcraft is pretty clearly a for-profit enterprise by the companies managing it, even if the profit is indirect ad revenues and product recognition.
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On August 25 2012 11:58 ArvickHero wrote:
a few things I'd like to correct here
-The game's success can be more attributed to the PC Bang phenomenon, instead of Korea's focus on its internet infrastucture. Not very significant, but a small detail that could be corrected.
-KeSPA as an organization never banned its players from the GOM Classics, which lasted up to 2009. The lawsuits occured 2010. The interview you hotlinked with "KeSPA prevented Gretech from running any leagues" has nothing to do with those words, and should be corrected.
-KeSPA is a non-profit organization, and the Broodwar leagues were always available free of charge (with the exception of the very first BW league, which charged an entrance fee for the finals). Would that tilt the free-use argument in KeSPA's favor?
I wanted to ask a few questions about the whole "licensed to use rather than own the software", but I'm running out of time and I gtg. I really enjoyed reading it!
Your 2nd point is something that I also questioned as well. Wasn't it SKT1 who opposed sending their players to the GOM Classic first and then other teams started to follow? If I recall they thought the schedule was getting to chaotic and they didn't want fatigue to set in. Other teams started to follow suit and it went downhill.
Ah Liquipedia notes and from the thread:
As of October 2009, the future of GOMTV tournament seem to be in jeopardy. Only 5 teams have said that they are interested in competing in the GOMTV tournament while the other teams have backed out, claiming the workload on the players is too high. There seems to be another reason, supposedly, which is the fight between Blizzard and KeSPA over the rights to StarCraft II tournaments, and KeSPA is believed to have ordered some of the teams to back out from the GOMTV Classic.
First season notes as well:
Issues
The tournament did not receive approval from KESPA to be an official tournament. Additionally only seven (out of twelve) of the current korean starcraft esports teams are participating by sending players to compete.
I remember there was a lot more to it. All I remember is the domino effect.
*
I thought the article missed a lot of other stuff as well though. I mean we've had lengthy discussions about the whole process for a ridiculous amount of threads.
On August 25 2012 12:12 Anarion55 wrote:Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated. Show nested quote +On August 25 2012 11:49 StarStruck wrote:
Very well written Anarion.
There are a few things you could have added though; for instance, you mentioned the broadcasts are for profit but the studios and tournaments KeSPA hosted (OSL/MSL/PL/special tournaments) were free to attend at the same time. The money they were making was coming from cable, sponsors, advertising and exposure. Licensing fees too as you said, which was a big no no and that's when Blizzard truly stepped in. I had a longer section about sponsors, but it was cut by my editor, unfortunately. This paper is directed more at the American legal system, so the details of how the Korean tournaments made their money were considered less relevant.
Yeah, I figured as much. ;/
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On August 25 2012 12:12 Anarion55 wrote:Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated. Show nested quote +On August 25 2012 11:49 StarStruck wrote:
Very well written Anarion.
There are a few things you could have added though; for instance, you mentioned the broadcasts are for profit but the studios and tournaments KeSPA hosted (OSL/MSL/PL/special tournaments) were free to attend at the same time. The money they were making was coming from cable, sponsors, advertising and exposure. Licensing fees too as you said, which was a big no no and that's when Blizzard truly stepped in. I had a longer section about sponsors, but it was cut by my editor, unfortunately. This paper is directed more at the American legal system, so the details of how the Korean tournaments made their money were considered less relevant. Show nested quote +On August 25 2012 11:58 ArvickHero wrote:
a few things I'd like to correct here
-The game's success can be more attributed to the PC Bang phenomenon, instead of Korea's focus on its internet infrastucture. Not very significant, but a small detail that could be corrected.
-KeSPA as an organization never banned its players from the GOM Classics, which lasted up to 2009. The lawsuits occured 2010. The interview you hotlinked with "KeSPA prevented Gretech from running any leagues" has nothing to do with those words, and should be corrected.
-KeSPA is a non-profit organization, and the Broodwar leagues were always available free of charge (with the exception of the very first BW league, which charged an entrance fee for the finals). Would that tilt the free-use argument in KeSPA's favor?
I wanted to ask a few questions about the whole "licensed to use rather than own the software", but I'm running out of time and I gtg. I really enjoyed reading it! Could you explain the comment about KeSPA not banning its players a little more? I was under the impression that the reason most of the GOM leagues stopped running was because KeSPA players were no longer able to participate. Being free to enter doesn't necessarily matter. They were putting them on TV from early on, so somebody was profiting based on the advertising revenue and the advertising revenue comes in because advertisers want their adds showed when lots of people are wathcing. Starcraft is pretty clearly a for-profit enterprise by the companies managing it, even if the profit is indirect ad revenues and product recognition.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=104250
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10387 Posts
On August 25 2012 12:12 Anarion55 wrote:
Could you explain the comment about KeSPA not banning its players a little more? I was under the impression that the reason most of the GOM leagues stopped running was because KeSPA players were no longer able to participate.
That's somewhat correct. KeSPA as an entity never banned participation from the GOM leagues,
OGN, MBC and eSTRO (parent company owned Proleague) had never participated in the GOM Classics from the start. The reason was because they saw GOM as another rival to their broadcasted leagues, and was not interested in support another challenger to what was seen as some as an oversaturated market.
The rest of the teams that withdrew decided that a fourth league was too much for their A-teamers. There were still five teams interested in participating for a fourth season, but GOM had instead decided it would not be worth running a league with less than half of the KeSPA teams playing in
There are rumours saying that KeSPA itself was pressuring the teams to withdraw, but without anything to back it up, they're just rumours ..
Being free to enter doesn't necessarily matter. They were putting them on TV from early on, so somebody was profiting based on the advertising revenue and the advertising revenue comes in because advertisers want their adds showed when lots of people are wathcing. Starcraft is pretty clearly a for-profit enterprise by the companies managing it, even if the profit is indirect ad revenues and product recognition.
Point taken. Still, the fact that KeSPA is labeled as a non-profit organization .. that changes nothing?
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Hopefully this thread doesn't turn into a legal argument among people who don't know jack shit about the law lol.
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Xiphos it almost sounds confusing.
Anyway first season it says the following teams participated: CJ Entus, Hanbit Stars, KTF MagicNs, Lecaf Oz, Samsung KHAN, STX SouL, and WeMade FOX.
In the thread you posted it appears only five teams were willing to participate in season 4.
Interesting. All I remember is there wasn't consensus between the teams throughout the GOM Classics run.
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On August 25 2012 12:27 ArvickHero wrote:Show nested quote +On August 25 2012 12:12 Anarion55 wrote:
Could you explain the comment about KeSPA not banning its players a little more? I was under the impression that the reason most of the GOM leagues stopped running was because KeSPA players were no longer able to participate. That's somewhat correct. KeSPA as an entity never banned participation from the GOM leagues, OGN, MBC and eSTRO (parent company owned Proleague) had never participated in the GOM Classics from the start. The reason was because they saw GOM as another rival to their broadcasted leagues, and was not interested in support another challenger to what was seen as some as an oversaturated market. The rest of the teams that withdrew decided that a fourth league was too much for their A-teamers. There were still five teams interested in participating for a fourth season, but GOM had instead decided it would not be worth running a league with less than half of the KeSPA teams playing in There are rumours saying that KeSPA itself was pressuring the teams to withdraw, but without anything to back it up, they're just rumours .. Show nested quote +Being free to enter doesn't necessarily matter. They were putting them on TV from early on, so somebody was profiting based on the advertising revenue and the advertising revenue comes in because advertisers want their adds showed when lots of people are wathcing. Starcraft is pretty clearly a for-profit enterprise by the companies managing it, even if the profit is indirect ad revenues and product recognition. Point taken. Still, the fact that KeSPA is labeled as a non-profit organization .. that changes nothing?
You definitely know better than me and yes because KeSPA is a division of the government at the same time they do consider themselves as a non-profit organization and they would argue the money gets funneled right back into the system and their overhead costs. It's an awkward can of worms because you have for-profit companies running it and at the same time they're still looking out for their best interests. That and those sponsors/corporations still act on their own at times as we've seen with the GOM Classic debacle. As you said OGN and MBC didn't want any part of GOM's business even though their mediums are different they still view them as competitors. That and the teams weren't too thrilled about playing in PL/OSL/MSL/GOM and all the qualifiers.
Blizzard really wanted to audit KeSPA when they filled the lawsuit so they could see exactly where all the money was going.
Let's just put it this way. There's a lot of gray areas especially when your dealing with for-profit organizations running a non-profit organization and division of the government. KeSPA would argue they're seperate divisions/departments and should be treated as such.
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On August 25 2012 12:28 Doodsmack wrote:
Hopefully this thread doesn't turn into a legal argument among people who don't know jack shit about the law lol.
We're all lawyers on the Internet!
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On August 25 2012 12:43 MonkSEA wrote:Show nested quote +On August 25 2012 12:28 Doodsmack wrote:
Hopefully this thread doesn't turn into a legal argument among people who don't know jack shit about the law lol. We're all lawyers on the Internet!
I remember a guy posting a blog maybe 6-8 months ago talking about how he was the shit and he was only an undergrad law school student.
Now that was a good read.
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On August 25 2012 12:48 StarStruck wrote:Show nested quote +On August 25 2012 12:43 MonkSEA wrote:On August 25 2012 12:28 Doodsmack wrote:
Hopefully this thread doesn't turn into a legal argument among people who don't know jack shit about the law lol. We're all lawyers on the Internet! I remember a guy posting a blog maybe 6-8 months ago talking about how he was the shit and he was only an undergrad law school student. Now that was a good read.
Under grad law student? What prelaw? Everyone who is thinking "hey I want to be a lawyer" is an undergrad law student. The man was like all other college students.
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On August 25 2012 12:52 Plansix wrote:Show nested quote +On August 25 2012 12:48 StarStruck wrote:On August 25 2012 12:43 MonkSEA wrote:On August 25 2012 12:28 Doodsmack wrote:
Hopefully this thread doesn't turn into a legal argument among people who don't know jack shit about the law lol. We're all lawyers on the Internet! I remember a guy posting a blog maybe 6-8 months ago talking about how he was the shit and he was only an undergrad law school student. Now that was a good read. Under grad law student? What prelaw? Everyone who is thinking "hey I want to be a lawyer" is an undergrad law student. The man was like all other college students.
Oh no man wish I could find it. I know the mods changed the title a few times. I forget what the abbreviation for someone who thinks they are a know it all.
All I remember is the guy was from Australia.
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I remember that thread, it was awesome
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On August 25 2012 12:55 StarStruck wrote:Show nested quote +On August 25 2012 12:52 Plansix wrote:On August 25 2012 12:48 StarStruck wrote:On August 25 2012 12:43 MonkSEA wrote:On August 25 2012 12:28 Doodsmack wrote:
Hopefully this thread doesn't turn into a legal argument among people who don't know jack shit about the law lol. We're all lawyers on the Internet! I remember a guy posting a blog maybe 6-8 months ago talking about how he was the shit and he was only an undergrad law school student. Now that was a good read. Under grad law student? What prelaw? Everyone who is thinking "hey I want to be a lawyer" is an undergrad law student. The man was like all other college students. Oh no man wish I could find it. I know the mods changed the title a few times. I forget what the abbreviation for someone who thinks they are a know it all. All I remember is the guy was from Australia.
This is completely irrelevant to the OP, but many Australian universities offer genuine undergraduate law courses.
They're equivalent to the normal prelaw->law, but it's fused into a single degree and rearranged slightly, so that they're taking dedicated law classes from day one alongside the more general stuff. They graduate as qualified solicitors.
Australia's university system is quite a bit more focused than the US one. It has pros and cons.
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Interesting read, but probably not even close to the actual story. If Blizzard had them by the balls, they probably would not have settled especially without the right to audit them and for a lower licensing fee. My guess is that there is conflicting issues in international IP law, and Korean IP law. You also mention US IP law, but how does that even factor in if the crimes are international and/or taken place in Korea?
Now, even if the laws do work on Blizzard's side, I really don't like it. It would be like them trying to charge streamers. Even if a streamers main attraction is he has personality or entertains a player (destiny or whoever). Also I don't like Blizzard controlling everything mainly because they have a tendency to fuck things up and they basically had nothing to do with ESPORTS until the train was already at full speed.
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On August 25 2012 13:17 Belisarius wrote:Show nested quote +On August 25 2012 12:55 StarStruck wrote:On August 25 2012 12:52 Plansix wrote:On August 25 2012 12:48 StarStruck wrote:On August 25 2012 12:43 MonkSEA wrote:On August 25 2012 12:28 Doodsmack wrote:
Hopefully this thread doesn't turn into a legal argument among people who don't know jack shit about the law lol. We're all lawyers on the Internet! I remember a guy posting a blog maybe 6-8 months ago talking about how he was the shit and he was only an undergrad law school student. Now that was a good read. Under grad law student? What prelaw? Everyone who is thinking "hey I want to be a lawyer" is an undergrad law student. The man was like all other college students. Oh no man wish I could find it. I know the mods changed the title a few times. I forget what the abbreviation for someone who thinks they are a know it all. All I remember is the guy was from Australia. This is completely irrelevant to the OP, but many Australian universities offer genuine undergraduate law courses. They're equivalent to the normal prelaw->law, but it's fused into a single degree and rearranged slightly, so that they're taking dedicated law classes from day one alongside the more general stuff. They graduate as qualified solicitors. Australia's university system is quite a bit more focused than the US one. It has pros and cons.
Nah, man you really have to see that thread for yourself to understand what we're digressing about after Plansix's comment.
I'm all for you defending the Australian programs but this guy was really off his rocker. I'm sure someone else will remember about the thread I'm talking about. I guess I could go through my posting history and find it but it will take a while. BRB.
Nevermind, next to impossible to find it because the history only goes back to ten pages. That only goes to like June 8th lol.
Son of a gun, I actually found it on when i typed my name and lawyer in the engine. Anyway, here you go:
I'm a borderline genius lawyer - AMA
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Hey all. I looked into the links posted about why the GomTv tournaments failed. It's not all that clear to me, and I'm still under the impression that KeSPA pressured people to prevent the teams from participating, but I agree that as written it's probably inaccurate. I'm probably not going to change it because any changes at this point have to be run past two editors and I'm a combination of lazy now that the main paper is done and of the opinion that it's relatively unimportant to the overall analysis.
On August 25 2012 13:44 NoobSkills wrote:
Interesting read, but probably not even close to the actual story. If Blizzard had them by the balls, they probably would not have settled especially without the right to audit them and for a lower licensing fee. My guess is that there is conflicting issues in international IP law, and Korean IP law. You also mention US IP law, but how does that even factor in if the crimes are international and/or taken place in Korea?
The U.S. law is relevant because the Korean courts would have looked to how the U.S. does things. There just isn't that much precedent in many countries. However, you're right that it's not the full story and it tends to be true that courts find somewhat...inventive...ways to rule for people from their own country, which is probably why Blizzard settled.
On August 25 2012 13:44 NoobSkills wrote:
Now, even if the laws do work on Blizzard's side, I really don't like it. It would be like them trying to charge streamers.
Arguably, they could do this, they just don't care.
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On August 25 2012 13:46 StarStruck wrote:Show nested quote +On August 25 2012 13:17 Belisarius wrote:On August 25 2012 12:55 StarStruck wrote:On August 25 2012 12:52 Plansix wrote:On August 25 2012 12:48 StarStruck wrote:On August 25 2012 12:43 MonkSEA wrote:On August 25 2012 12:28 Doodsmack wrote:
Hopefully this thread doesn't turn into a legal argument among people who don't know jack shit about the law lol. We're all lawyers on the Internet! I remember a guy posting a blog maybe 6-8 months ago talking about how he was the shit and he was only an undergrad law school student. Now that was a good read. Under grad law student? What prelaw? Everyone who is thinking "hey I want to be a lawyer" is an undergrad law student. The man was like all other college students. Oh no man wish I could find it. I know the mods changed the title a few times. I forget what the abbreviation for someone who thinks they are a know it all. All I remember is the guy was from Australia. This is completely irrelevant to the OP, but many Australian universities offer genuine undergraduate law courses. They're equivalent to the normal prelaw->law, but it's fused into a single degree and rearranged slightly, so that they're taking dedicated law classes from day one alongside the more general stuff. They graduate as qualified solicitors. Australia's university system is quite a bit more focused than the US one. It has pros and cons. Nah, man you really have to see that thread for yourself to understand what we're digressing about after Plansix's comment. I'm all for you defending the Australian programs but this guy was really off his rocker. I'm sure someone else will remember about the thread I'm talking about. I guess I could go through my posting history and find it but it will take a while. BRB. Nevermind, next to impossible to find it because the history only goes back to ten pages. That only goes to like June 8th lol. Son of a gun, I actually found it on when i typed my name and lawyer in the engine. Anyway, here you go: I'm a borderline genius lawyer - AMA
Wow, that was a fun read.
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On August 25 2012 09:56 SpiZe wrote:Nice article, the timing of this is pretty spectacular
yea hes very lucky to have everything going on now
oh, very nice article btw
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Tried to read it all but alas my dismay at the sorry state of Copyright laws in the USA made me want to go kill myself so I avoided the rest. Seemed well written though! Good job using Starcraft in an assignment.
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United Kingdom3249 Posts
On August 25 2012 12:48 StarStruck wrote:Show nested quote +On August 25 2012 12:43 MonkSEA wrote:On August 25 2012 12:28 Doodsmack wrote:
Hopefully this thread doesn't turn into a legal argument among people who don't know jack shit about the law lol. We're all lawyers on the Internet! I remember a guy posting a blog maybe 6-8 months ago talking about how he was the shit and he was only an undergrad law school student. Now that was a good read.
Oh my dear god that was the best blog ever. Need to find it...need to find it.
Edit: Oh, found. <3
Also, the essay is really well done. I think there might be inaccuracies, but they relate to very peripheral issues and even if they should have importance to the actual case, it was a cogent legal argument.
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Good article man. Not gonna lie I thought I was about to be trolled when I saw the title (even tho its a legit title) and the post count I was skeptical. But definitely was legit. Good luck with your future man!
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This is amazing. It's contributions like this that continually restore my faith in the SC community.
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Great read. I'll definitely give it a second more thorough read later as well. Thanks for sharing.
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Awesome, congratulations! Very well written.
More esports in the literature legitimises the industry in the eyes of outsiders.
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Likely a lot more interesting than my law review comment on an arcane area of maritime law. I will definitely take a look at it tomorrow.
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Even though I don't study law I found it really easy to read. Good job
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Very well written! Seriously great job on this.
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a question i have wouldbe if this is written as if the whole dispute took place in america or if korean law was taken into account.
wouldnt the whole discussion have to be pursuant to korean law due to the terriotoriality principle (lex loci protectionis)
another view on things would be to see this as an american infringement, as the holder of the right is an american company. korean courts would be merely interpreting and executing american law. i do not know if this argument is possible though (maybe because matches are viewable online?)
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Nice paper one question thou.
As i program developer i have some right to my product and its use. But in this case one might argue that the program is used as intended they are playing the game, the broadcast has nothing to do with the game it self but are the product of the players.
Example
I buy a adobe product i use the templates that are in the product and make a piece of art.
that art becomes uber e'famous and everyone and his aunt is using it.
Adobe then come and say hey that our templates and we want a piece of the pie.
that basically what blizzard was doing they created the software yes but not the artwork its the player that is the artist and i do say artist and not athlete.
So my question is cant one argue that the players in this case all hold a licence to the game should be considers the true artist and the game it self is just a tool to create the art? and how would that relate to the lawsuit in question?
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On August 25 2012 11:58 ArvickHero wrote:
-KeSPA as an organization never banned its players from the GOM Classics, which lasted up to 2009. The lawsuits occured 2010. The interview you hotlinked with "KeSPA prevented Gretech from running any leagues" has nothing to do with those words, and should be corrected.
I don't know about that.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=104250
Someone linked earlier but if you read the comments/replies, it seems everyone was surprised.
It's the same thing KeSPA tried to pull on GOM and GSL - the "literally" everyone [including B-teamers, they're too busy with not being busy] is "too busy" 24/7 card.
Also I like that everyone else in the thread was making the same argument I was making against this >.> (that why ban everyone? They can hog Jaedong, Flash, Bisu, Stork, etc but at least allow the B teamers to participate).
It seems KeSPA told some of their team to not participate or something (from what everyone said in that thread).
Edit - Of course I could be wrong. Mainly because 5 teams did say they wanted to participate. One argument is that the other teams didn't have promising b-teamers and/or want everyone to focus on PL.
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On August 25 2012 12:27 ArvickHero wrote:Show nested quote +On August 25 2012 12:12 Anarion55 wrote:
Being free to enter doesn't necessarily matter. They were putting them on TV from early on, so somebody was profiting based on the advertising revenue and the advertising revenue comes in because advertisers want their adds showed when lots of people are wathcing. Starcraft is pretty clearly a for-profit enterprise by the companies managing it, even if the profit is indirect ad revenues and product recognition. Point taken. Still, the fact that KeSPA is labeled as a non-profit organization .. that changes nothing?
Nonprofit doesn't mean they can't make profit or shouldn't. The bottom line is that profits generated by NPOs can't be transferred out as dividends. Of course that doesn't mean they don't find ways to do so, as long as they can convince the government agency in charge of oversight that it is for the 'good of esports.'
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Nice article. Hope your future is bright with success. It sure looks like it will be.
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Thank you for posting this. The conclusion of your publication seems sensible and entirely commendable.
I hope the best for your legal career. Frankly the status quo of the legality (or rather lack of it) of broadcasting esports tournaments and even streaming games reflects very poorly on the legal establishment. Legal professionals are currently screwing the general public rather than helping them.
Luckily the public does have some recourse, for example they can choose to not play or watch sc2. In Korea sc2 is not popular compared to bw, I wouldn't be surprised if that's due in part to the shameful actions of Blizzard. Specifically legally but immorally extorting money from esports by copyright enforcement against the public good.
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As a law student, its always fun when you can combine something else you have an interest in! I'm gonna indulge myself in your article at once!
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EPT
