When we’re too busy to actually play Gitaroo Man, we happily resort to watching “Let’s Play” runthrough videos of Gitaroo Man. Unfortunately, an addendum to federal copyright laws currently working its way through our country’s legislative channels seeks to make streaming videos of copyrighted content just as illegal as pirating films — the penalties for which are displayed every time you start up a video. Fortunately, This is My Next has explained why this law wouldn’t find much traction in stopping these kinds of nostalgic walkthroughs from being uploaded.
The statute can only be enforced in instances where uploaders are “willfully” infringing on a copyright with intent to make money, and is only punishable if said uploader makes (or the game company loses) over $2,500. That’s probably not true about a vast majority of the walkthroughs on streaming video sites, meaning our vicarious Gitarooing should continue unabated.
Senate Bill 978 not much of a danger to YouTube game runthroughs originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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