Howdy, I've been on this site for a while now. While I love reading about piracy and focus mainly on copyright issues, I thought that it might be a good chance to see how people felt on this issue. There's quite a few reasons.
Regarding games, I've noticed that quite a few fan made projects are beginning to be shut down. There's no reason for it, it's the fact that they are under an obligation by law to shut down if a copyright holder disapproves.
This is what happened in two cases: Activision with King's Quest [http://kotaku.com/5482221/activision-terminates-fan+made-kings-quest-extension] and Squaresoft with Crimson Echoes [http://crimsonechoes.com/].
Now, if you read about Activision, you'll read about how Activision recently acquired the license. If you understand anything about Activision, you'll know that they rarely develop a new franchise if they can milk it to death [http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/01/activisions-bobby-kotick-brings-cash-but-not-heart.ars]. Square is understandable but still in the dark. Crono Break, a trademark they registered, was allowed to expire in the US. It allows them to hold onto the Crono property without it being in the public domain.
Copyrights are not all about the games, which is why I put this in the Off-topic area. Music aficionados should already know about the ways of the RIAA [http://news.cnet.com/2100-1027_3-6111118.html], a "cartel" that is slowly increasing in power, from the simple fact that 37 songs net you $27,000 in retribution even for school [http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/02/former-teen-cheerleader-dinged-27750-for-infringing-37-songs/] to losing internet access [http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/01/verizon-terminating-internet-accessinternet-access/] for supposed copyright infringement, it's a growing fact that such heavy handed tactics will do more to inconvenience consumers and cause less innovation in the future.
Let's look at why copyright needs to change firstly. We have a lot of businesses that have a lot of power doing nothing but "protecting their babies" with copyright claims. There is no evidence needed of what they intend to do with copyrights and the games are protected for indefinite amounts of time with little cost to them. All of this leads to stagnation in various industries as has been evident. Regarding the fan sequels, it's very doubtful that Activision will produce a sequel to King's Quest, especially given Kotick's attitude towards games. Squaresoft has yet to produce a true sequel to Crono Trigger (Cross is a shoddily made game that was slapped to Cross at near the last moment to garner sales. Even then, it was horribly paced, too many characters that did nothing, and the story was convoluted with me being nice about it.) to which Crimson Echoes was going to be a neat little segue-way into Cross. Sadly, these innovative approaches to fan favorite games were shut down.
In the last 10 years, we have seen DMCA used to shut down various projects. It's been used for legal extortion. I mean really, why should we have a girl paying 27000 dollars for 37 songs? Why not have her pay full retail and go about her business? Why should companies be inconvenienced with being cheap police officers, doing the bidding of those with the know how to change governmental laws?
So it is that there's a lot of room for improvement in our laws here in the US. What thoughts do you all have on the subject and how could we improve upon this?
Regarding games, I've noticed that quite a few fan made projects are beginning to be shut down. There's no reason for it, it's the fact that they are under an obligation by law to shut down if a copyright holder disapproves.
This is what happened in two cases: Activision with King's Quest [http://kotaku.com/5482221/activision-terminates-fan+made-kings-quest-extension] and Squaresoft with Crimson Echoes [http://crimsonechoes.com/].
Now, if you read about Activision, you'll read about how Activision recently acquired the license. If you understand anything about Activision, you'll know that they rarely develop a new franchise if they can milk it to death [http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/01/activisions-bobby-kotick-brings-cash-but-not-heart.ars]. Square is understandable but still in the dark. Crono Break, a trademark they registered, was allowed to expire in the US. It allows them to hold onto the Crono property without it being in the public domain.
Copyrights are not all about the games, which is why I put this in the Off-topic area. Music aficionados should already know about the ways of the RIAA [http://news.cnet.com/2100-1027_3-6111118.html], a "cartel" that is slowly increasing in power, from the simple fact that 37 songs net you $27,000 in retribution even for school [http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/02/former-teen-cheerleader-dinged-27750-for-infringing-37-songs/] to losing internet access [http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/01/verizon-terminating-internet-accessinternet-access/] for supposed copyright infringement, it's a growing fact that such heavy handed tactics will do more to inconvenience consumers and cause less innovation in the future.
Let's look at why copyright needs to change firstly. We have a lot of businesses that have a lot of power doing nothing but "protecting their babies" with copyright claims. There is no evidence needed of what they intend to do with copyrights and the games are protected for indefinite amounts of time with little cost to them. All of this leads to stagnation in various industries as has been evident. Regarding the fan sequels, it's very doubtful that Activision will produce a sequel to King's Quest, especially given Kotick's attitude towards games. Squaresoft has yet to produce a true sequel to Crono Trigger (Cross is a shoddily made game that was slapped to Cross at near the last moment to garner sales. Even then, it was horribly paced, too many characters that did nothing, and the story was convoluted with me being nice about it.) to which Crimson Echoes was going to be a neat little segue-way into Cross. Sadly, these innovative approaches to fan favorite games were shut down.
In the last 10 years, we have seen DMCA used to shut down various projects. It's been used for legal extortion. I mean really, why should we have a girl paying 27000 dollars for 37 songs? Why not have her pay full retail and go about her business? Why should companies be inconvenienced with being cheap police officers, doing the bidding of those with the know how to change governmental laws?
So it is that there's a lot of room for improvement in our laws here in the US. What thoughts do you all have on the subject and how could we improve upon this?
