Study On The Copyright Issues Of The Live Videogame Webcast

Live videogame webcast is a new business in game industry,which consists of videogame developers,game players,streamers and the webcasting platforms.As a new global entertainment industry,live videogame webcast generates great revenue from advertising and subscriptions.Usually,the webcasting platforms share the revenue with the streamers,those who usually are professional game players webcasting their gameplay.Notably absent from the equation are the copyright owners,usually the game's developers.Therefore,with the influx of money into this new industry and the absence of the relevant regulations,there are sure to be disputes as to who is entitled to what part or percentage of the revenue,increasing the likelihood of litigation.This situation has posed challenges to copyright law and the development of both game industry and broadcasting industry.In 2015,the first case of live videogame webcast in China was decided by Pudong district court in Shanghai,which provides a good example to study copyright issues of live videogame webcast.Meanwhile,it reflects that the copyright law has lagged behind and has caused much trouble for relevant judicial activities.With regard to the outline of this paper,it consists of six parts,which will address the various copyright issues surrounding live videogame webcast.Specifically,part one will provide a detailed description of the first case of live videogame webcast and will point out the main relevant copyright issues.Part two will address the copyright of audiovisual elements of gameplay.Part three will look at the legal status and the copyright holder of those audiovisual elements of gameplay.The interactive nature of videogame makes it difficult to recognize the author of those moving images along with gameplay.Therefore,this part will be paid more attention to.Part four will describe how this new live videogame webcast industry works and which exclusive right gets involved.Part five is one of the most important parts of this paper,and will provide a detailed analysis of live videogame webcast under the doctrine of fair use.Finally,part six will conclude with proposed recommendations for legislative and judicial activities of copyright law.