Is it possible to create something where knowing about the thing constitutes copyright infringement?

  • dillekant@slrpnk.netOP
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    1 year ago

    What if you were playing a Switch on the train? Would that not be “exhibiting the work publically”?

    • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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      1 year ago

      You could play your Switch on a train, while streaming on Twitch, and it still wouldn’t be infringement.

      You could tell people where they could download a Switch emulator and the roms for the game you were playing (provided you weren’t hosting them yourself), and you still wouldn’t be infringing copyright. (The host of that emulator and the roms would be, and you would violate Twitch’s TOS, but not copyright law)

      I would argue that your followers would not be violating copyright in downloading that emulator and rom; the violator is the uploader, not the downloader.

      I would argue that you could then invite your followers to play with you, and you could play on the train, and stream your gameplay on twitch, and still not be violating copyright.

      • dillekant@slrpnk.netOP
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        1 year ago

        You could play your Switch on a train, while streaming on Twitch, and it still wouldn’t be infringement.

        I don’t think that’s correct. Streaming or showing publicly is infringement. Game companies don’t tend to sue for Twitch streaming but my understanding is that it’s well within their copyright to do so.

        • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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          1 year ago

          If I play Destiny 2 on my twitch stream, at the end of my stream, my audience has watched a video. Someone recording my stream has a copy of a video that I have produced. Bungie’s copyright is for a game, not a video. My audience does not have a game. My audience cannot play their “copy” of Destiny 2, because what they have is not a copy of what Bungie holds the copyright to.

          I hold the copyright to my performance, not Bungie. The movement of my character and the sound of my voice are under my control, not Bungie’s.

          You are correct about a public performance of a song or video, but not a playthrough of a game.

          • dillekant@slrpnk.netOP
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            1 year ago

            You seem to be talking via theory not actual law. Most lawyers say it would need to be tried in court but Nintendo (it was Nintendo making the claims at the time) would have a solid case. The reason is that it would allow copyright laundering: You could play the game and license the “video” to a game company which could use the assets in the video (eg: Mario) to make a new Mario game.

            • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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              1 year ago

              I reject your idea that it could allow copyright laundering. A copy of Mario from my video is still a copy of Mario. My license to play the game allows me to incorporate my gameplay into a new work, but extracting that character from my work arrives at a character indistinguishable from Nintendo’s.

              I would not be violating Nintendo’s copyright to license my video to Montendi, but Montendi would be violating Nintendo’s copyright when they extract that character and use him in their own game.

              • dillekant@slrpnk.netOP
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                1 year ago

                I reject your idea that it could allow copyright laundering

                It’s fine, that doesn’t change the legality. Unsure whether a judge would include reasoning like this in their judgement.

                My license to play the game allows me to incorporate my gameplay into a new work,

                No, you are not freely allowed to create derivative works. You are probably arguing fair use or fair dealing, but Twitch streaming generally wouldn’t count (it’s not part of the list of exceptions).