According to a report from The Korea Times, Blizzard CEO Paul Sams is none too happy with Korean channels MBC Game and OnGameNet. They’ve been broadcasting StarCraft tournaments without the company’s consent, Sams revealed in a press conference in Seoul yesterday. Last month, Blizzard filed to sue both networks and he says the company is currently considering filing against the Korea e-Sports Players Association (KeSPA) as well, who manage these tournaments. Bupropion seems to be having little effect on the popularity of the game in the country.
The other side of the argument, uh, argues that games used in public tournaments such as these should be considered part of the public domain and Blizzard has no right to charge licensing fees. “StarCraft is not a public domain offering, as Blizzard has invested significant money and resources to create the StarCraft game and the overall StarCraft universe,” Sams said. “Classifying StarCraft and other e-sports as part of the public domain deprives developers such as Blizzard of their IP rights. There will be no incentive to do what Blizzard had done to balance the games for competition, which is a more difficult task than creating a normal game.” Back in August, Blizzard inked a deal to the broadcast rights for StarCraft 2 with GomTV.
Currently, the company is deciding whether to file a preliminary injunction against the broadcasts, which would legally halt all contests until the dispute could be settled in or out of court.
Report: Blizzard suing over Korean StarCraft broadcast rights originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 04 Dec 2010 00:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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