<
https://www.techdirt.com/2024/05/16/there-is-no-good-reason-to-just-let-unsupported-video-games-die/>
"The Pirate Party has long played an important role in fighting the worst
excesses of copyright in the EU. For example, when a major copyright update was
being discussed, the Pirate Party MEP Felix Reda wrote an insightful and
practical report on what needed changing. Most of his recommendations were
ignored in the final EU Copyright Directive, but at least someone was fighting
on behalf of hundreds of millions of EU citizens, whose views are generally
ignored when it comes to copyright law. The outgoing Pirate Party MEP Patrick
Breyer is also active in this area. He has started a new initiative that aims
to tackle a widespread problem, and one that is made worse by outdated and
inflexible copyright laws:
Pirate Party MEP Patrick Breyer has asked the European Commission for an
opinion on the decision by French computer game manufacturer Ubisoft to make
the popular computer game “The Crew 1” unusable from April 2024. In Breyer’s
opinion, this measure could violate EU law.
The main problem is that if a company abandons a game, the latter remains
covered by copyright, and is thus locked down for decades more. Even if people
are willing to take over the running of a game at their own expense, it is not
possible to do that without the permission of the company involved, which
rarely grants it. As Breyer notes, there is a wider initiative centered around
the YouTuber Ross Scott, formed to oppose the destruction of video games. There
is a dedicated site,
Stop Killing Games. As that explains:
An increasing number of videogames are sold as goods, but designed to be
completely unplayable for everyone as soon as support ends. The legality of
this practice is untested worldwide, and many governments do not have clear
laws regarding these actions. It is our goal to have authorities examine
this behavior and hopefully end it, as it is an assault on both consumer
rights and preservation of media."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
