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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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10387 Posts
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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EPT
