Report: Blizzard suing over Korean StarCraft broadcast rights

@JIAGPOS
When there is competition, advertising, and a lot of money involved it might not be so simple.

@Lerkero
So if you videotaped yourself reading chapters of Harry Potter and showed that on TV, is that public domain too?

@Lerkero
Eh, you wouldn't see this in America. The ammount of times I've watched American based Dawn of War, Counter-Strike, Brawl, Street Fighter, Starcraft (1 and 2) and more games, free is pretty high. Since you're not paying for the service there's nothing to sue on.Even if it's say a pay only channel (like cable or HBO or something) there's nothing to sue on. This is just them being a bag of di-cks like they did about having you pay to watch live coverage of Blizzcon.

@Lerkero

You're right, it's not simple. Should they go after gametrailers or IGN for posting video reviews of their games, as well? They usually have an advertisement on before they start that aren't from the same company as the video being shown. Someone else does make money off the advertisement for that review.

@DangerMouse001
Or even YouTube for allowing people to upload and watch the tourneys for free too.

@sigma8
In my opinion books and moves are different. If you, say record a stream a movie, that movie only has 1 plot every time. Whoever just watched it is not going to pay to watch it again. However a video game is different. There is no plot (in competitive multiplayer events). Each match is different.

@JIAGPOS
Okay, so then would it be legal for me to host my own, televised, commercialized Quidditch matches without giving a dime to J K Rowling?

@DangerMouse001
That reply doesn't make any sense. Publishers provide Gametrailers and IGN with material specifically so that those websites give coverage of their games to the intended audience. There is already an agreement of coverage for the material provided. It's not like GT is doing it for profit without the publishers consent.

@Drunken Irish Sniper
Doesn't stop the fact I can watch these same tourneys here free aswell, and for other games too. Been doing it for a while. Some live, some not.

@Lerkero yeah but solitaire dont get constant patches and balances to keep the game up to date and at a competitive level. SC2 does

@Lerkero By your logic anything popular would be public domain. A large case where Disney argued and won that Mickey Mouse was not part of the public domain ended a few years ago.

Holds no water in international law. If someone is profiting by your hard work you deserve a cut in my opinion just like you would if you wrote a song, drew a picture or wrote a book.

@ll features ll

I can't take a side because i don't give a rat's ass about a corporation in which i have no investment in and i don't live in Korea.

@DangerMouse001

Ignorance must be bliss.

@WiNGSPANTT from TopTierTacticsco
"fingers slide deeper"
That is all I read... Sorry

@The Aquacharger

can he ever?

@WiNGSPANTT from TopTierTacticsco

Kotick biting the hand that feeds him, the Korean e-Sports scene almost single handedly kept Starcraft's popularity going and extending its longevity for an amazing (for any game) 12 years.

This is obviously another power play after licensing talks broke down for StarCraft2 early this year explaining why none of the major TV networks cover or sponsor SC2 opting to continue with the SC1 leagues that have they have been running for the last 10 years.

Following the breakdown of Activision's negotiations with the major networks and Korean eSports Association, they decided to break off and sign an agreement with an online network GOMTV that had nothing to lose and was covering only a smattering of eSports in Korea. While GOMTV has strong online popularity (due to its Windows Media Player replacement), this is a far cry from being as accessible and popular as being featured on the major TV networks.

To support this agreement with Activision, the SC2 league running today by GOMTV are charged PPV in a per game or per tournament format, instead of being corporate sponsored on TV.

With some of the retired and lower tier professionals moving over to SC2 in the last couple of months, Kotick must feel confident that it may be time to burn the bridge that Blizzard built over 10 years before his reign.

But, I can only feel like this is way too soon, Bobby. Imagine if the NFL went PPV and was not shown on "regular TV" anymore, how would popularity be affected? Obviously the diehards will still watch, but this also spawns "bootlegging" issues common to any PPV-based events. GRETECH (GOMTV's parent company) has had to deal with sending Cease and Desist requests ever since they have been running their coverage.

Back on subject, basically since SC2 talks died off earlier this year and now the TV networks have been happily continuing their SC1 operations for the last 6 months instead of begging Activision for another chance at SC2, the next logical step in their eyes is to sue retroactively...

@sigma8
This would be Starcraft 1, and the preferred method of these tournaments is LAN, not clunky, laggy Battle.Net, which is what it would be with that many people trying to access it from one point, much less find each other.

@sohcahtoa

I really don't buy that excuse. The vast majority of their customers don't play in competitive tournaments, much less tournaments broadcast on TV. Blizzard would, or should anyway, be striving for a balanced game for their millions of customers that just play matches against friends or other people they meet on Bnet. As a multiplayer RTS it wouldn't be very appealing if it was too unbalanced. To claim they're doing it all for the tournaments being broadcast on TV in S. Korea is joke.

@InkSix

Oh, and just for the record, I don't really know if ESPN had the exclusive rights to broadcast the World Cup. It was just an example.

@InkSix

those are professional sports leagues, this is akin to the construction company that built the stadiums those sports leagues play in suing ESPN because they are broadcasting images of their product.

@Fakeassname Its not like that at all because there is a long and varied history of Blizzards argument in international law. Yours is just an arbitrary example of nothing at all.

@InkSix

i was thinking about a similar example, the NFL in America. but then i started thinking that the NFL gets to control the broadcasts because they pay to organize and put the games on. Blizzard isn't financing those channels or tournaments at all; plus those people bought their games.

i dunno. it's not a simple issue.

@(Unverified)

I get what you're saying where it's their IP. What I don't get is why are they suing right NOW. Blizzard knew South Korea has been using Starcraft 1 for tournaments for years and no action was taken. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Starcraft 2 pretty much a year old at this point. So I'm pretty sure it would've been broadcasted already enough time for Blizzard to react.

Then again, I don't know the schedule of all things South Korean tournaments.

@(Unverified)
Yeah, honestly this has been going on pretty much since Starcraft launched. They had their chances. Right now, the only reason why they might be suing them is to try and force them into "downgrading" to Starcraft 2, where Blizzard would have absolute control over them via Battle.shit 2.0.

@Chichok

I wasn't aware a year was from June to December.

@Chichok They're doing it now directly because SC2 was released. They inked a deal with GOM for broadcast rights of that. They can't expect that exclusive contract to be upheld if they can't defend SC1 in the exact same way, in the exact same courts. That's what "laws" are...consistent ways of dealing with disputes.

If they let the rights for SC1 slide, then they let SC2 slide. If the defend the rights of SC2, they have to also defend the rights of SC1.

@The Aquacharger They want people to buy StarCraft 2, not Brood War, which is essentially free to play in Korea as long as you're in a PC방. In addition, KeSPA is an authoritarian, corrupt organization that squeezed as much money out of Brood War as it could without giving Blizzard a dime.

One pro player phrased it this way: "Going from KeSPA (StarCraft league) to GSL (Blizzard sponsored StarCraft 2 league) was like going from communism to capitalism."

@danaceb I wouldn't say TV stations fall into the realm of non-profit organizations. And believe me, if they wanted to drag their name through the mud, they'd block all multiplayer connections from Korea and start randomly banning thousands at a time from WoW.

@danaceb TV stations are certainly not non-profit; keep up the "I'm a stupid asshole" act, it suits you.

@Dalrint I could not care less about blizzard but your vague statistics are invalid and useless. My guess is Blizzard counts on Korea for just above nothing at all and just under who gives a shit.

Europe, Japan and North America. That is where ALL of the dollars are. And here we see these Korean companies fleecing Blizz. because I am an ass and a mercy killer I'd take away their ability to play.