Play Meter

S B!~ T============
Copyright law conference
considers video rulings
Copyright Confer-
21 in Washington,
ed by a panel dis-
, 'ch three of the
~:;x;~r.; most concerned
copyright rulings,
rrightability of video
. ...,..,~""""''~c e is sponsored
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Federal Bar Associa-
~putght of this year's
o lectures was the
........... l1".inht panel.
-l'll!!'':::s:::::ssaon was moderated by
= ""-""" ""- chief examiner of
'"~.,..,..--.-~ Office. She intro-
......::.....:.o=J·on on the games
=nd:E:ss::;s
an addict," and
~;;-.o:=:::e«;
_ - - 21 er some consider-
....c9>ngnt Office decided
'12;~:::
games as audio/
introduced the
0ers of the panel by
- ·ews on the issue
5l;;ilffiCaJ t ly.
Int ernational
t:::.::::a::=::=55siotn attorney, intra-
..-.............. ""' ·::::J;;;;::::)enlts by conjecturing
':t:lc:",JX::.t:sim o video games in
mght registration
:C:::!E::tt·'!: :s~=w::artt extension of the
relevant to the
- prove applicable to
S:z;:::Jcr;s - ected by copy-
of copyright law, because they are an .
example of law addressing technol-
ogical advances," he said.
Plaia offered that the Second Cir-
cuit Court of Appeals' affirmation of
Stern's case against Kaufman, et a/
was the most significant case in
establishing that the sights and
sounds of video games could be
copyrighted. He told the attorneys in
attendance that Midway decided to
go after the importers of boards by
petitioning the ITC to get involved
because it could go after all offenders
at once rather than wait until the
infringing boards were spread all
over the Untied States to attack
each U.S. company in district
courts.
Plaia said that, after his visits to' the
ports where the offending boards are
being halted before their entrance
into the United States, he was satis-
fied, Customers Service workers
were capable of making the distinc-
tions required to judge which boards
were infringements and should be
kept out of the country .
Richard Stern, former chief of the
Intellectual Property division of the
Department of Justice, continued
the discussion by stating that neither
Simmons nor Plaia was correct in
his interpretation of what signifi-
cance this issue would have c;m the
appliction of the copyright statutes
as they are.
"The video question is corroding
copyright law," he asserted. "If the
decisions made in respect to video
games must apply to other matters
of the same categorical type, such as
books and plays, it could be disas-
trous ."
Stern offered that video games
were looked at as literary works b9
the Copyright Office and the laws
that applied to literary 'works just
aren't applicable to the new com-
puter age works.
"The system," said Stern, "is set
up to protect authors and inventors. "
In most cases the authors of video
games are not even known.
Stern also offered that purloining a
ROM (read only memory) was not a
violation of the cqpyright law.
Stern continued to deny certain
court opinions on the copyright-
ability of certain aspects of the
games and opined that the Copy-
right Office should classify such
works as doubtful, thereby erasing
the "presumption of validity" with
which courts view all copyrighted
materials.
e mainly of the
.-=e::::er-..: · h videos and
~~C'.il:aY Manufacturing
!::':!!~::;;Sr:;::i!
or the ITC's
with matters of
ear copies," he
blatant copies,
--·--~ ·-.:e:;:;;:l()~u-ate the element
2:::-e
~.....,..,.""' in the law firm
::rl::l2!.::mberg and attor-
!ll.:L:l:ile;.-
ITC litigation,
:;;;;e=;e~·
with several
From left, Ja ck Simmons, lTC; Paul Plaia, Midway; and Marybeth Peters, US.
Copyright Ofiice discuss video game copyrights.
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