I amn't a gamer, but I like the OP question from a legal POV.
It appears that the copyright status of Let's Play videos or discussion is questionable and unfinished. As such, copyright is presumed unless there is no obvious claim to it. The degree of copyright can be a mix-and-match variety of claims. Creative Commons, for example, is one of the alternatives to strict copyright of a product like games. Perhaps the most interesting and likely controversy in this question is that of the old Apple Computer Inc. v. Microsoft "look and feel" controversy (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look_and_feel ). Any published videos which don't have permission to license whatever copyright the games claim
might run afoul of certain laws. At this point in the conversation, the possibility of protecting use of copyrighted features without permission could be done lawfully under federal and state "fair use" laws which would allow for use of very brief snippets of video if they are intended to highlight a critique of the original product.
I suppose I could just ask permission to be on the safe side, otherwise I can devote a lengthy review (~20 minutes) to games I haven't received permission for. What if a developer has a policy written on their website stating that LP's are fine by them? Is that fine, or do I need a written statement in an email addressed specifically to me? And while I think about it, is it really up to the developer or the publisher?
07 May 2017, 10:44 am
