discussion post answer class mate
Post 1
I think the ‘right to exclude’ from esports publisher based on the copyright law can confer the market power but at the same time it doesn’t violate the antitrust law. Since it can provide a significant dominion to publishers over players, teams, leagues, and streaming platforms, it is true that publishers can get a huge market power. However, just because publishers can get those dominions, they don’t always get the market power. For example, there are so few video games actually enjoy such dominion such as ‘League of Legends’, ‘Call of Duty Series’. On the other hand, there are a lot of games sell their broadcasting rights for free out there. It could be quite arbitrary to decide what game has a monopoly and what has not. If every video games and publishers are considered they have a significant market power and get somehow restricted by antitrust law just because they can have such power, it’ll be so tough for many publishers to survive.Unlike traditional sports, respective esports games (video games) are created by each developers. By this reason, it is true that one who utilizes a certain game for business must pay those who developed the game. By the perspective of esports industries, it could be seen has a monopoly. However, by the perspective of developers, it is what they deserve naturally. Rather than having a controversy about whether it is monopoly or not, I think it is desirable to accept that IP business and game developing industries are becoming significant revenue generating area.
Post 2
Over the past year, it has become clear that video games are a significant area for social interaction. As with other artistic creations, the core of video games has always been intellectual property. Compared to traditional copyright-protected works, video games are generally much more complex. They are an interconnected system of various elements such as computer programs, audiovisual content, images, designs, literary works, voiceovers, music, performing arts, trademarks, and many more. Managing the specifics of video games is a real challenge when it comes to protecting intellectual property rights.It is also important to note that video games are generally distributed worldwide, which means that, as a rule, specific regulations in all relevant jurisdictions need to be taken into account. However, from an IP law perspective, many aspects of video games are still unclear. This can be a problem for video game developers, publishers, and even players in some cases. Moreover, there are many cases where big video games publishers take advantage of their power against the players and organizations. At the beginning of May 2021, Congressman Yoo Dong-su of the Democratic Party from Korea has just proposed a “Heroes of the Storm” law to protect eSports players. This comes from the fact that the Korean GenG team was unemployed in December 2018. GenG is one of the representatives to participate in the final Heroes Global Championship. Then, publisher Blizzard suddenly canceled the tournament, causing GenG and many other teams to fall into crisis and risk termination. Professional gamers and organizations spend a lot of money, time, and energy to prepare for an international arena. With eSports tournaments, if the publisher does not continue to support, the interests of players and participating organizations will be seriously affected.In another case, Call Of Duty Leagues and Overwatch League eliminated the maximum salary cap and competitive balance tax. The change was likely because of an antitrust investigation against Activision Blizzard by the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this year. The investigation mainly focuses on whether or not the soft salary cap violated the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act. The difference between eSports and traditional sports is that labor unions have protected athletes, while E-sports players do not have the same rights and employment. Esports players associations are not unions, and they also do not benefit from the labor exemption from antitrust law and, therefore, draw antitrust scrutiny. Now, organizations can offer higher salaries and better conditions to players they believe will value their teams and their brand.
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