Cyberpunk 2077 Through the Lens of Copyright

Copyright for Cyberpunks: Cyberpunk 2077 Through the Lens of Copyright Presented by: Alexandros Alexandrou, supervised by Dr Gaetano Dimita, and Dr Michaela MacDonald. Date: February2021 Understanding Cyberpunk 2077 - Video Game by CD Project Red - Based on the Cyberpunk 2020 Franchise - Pen and Paper RPG Developed by R. Talsorian Games Today's Talk - Copyright-focused - Considerable IP Overlaps - Trademark, Right of Publicity in particular Role of the Player - To the extent that there is law in this area, the view is that the player's creative role in the performance of the game does not give rise to a copyright interest. - Is this still good law given today's technology? - The current theory is largely rooted in a single American case: Midway Mfg. Co v Artic International, Inc, 704 F.2d 1009 (7th Cir. 1983) • "The person playing the game can vary the order in which the stored images appear on the screen by moving the machine's control lever. That makes playing a video game a little like arranging words in a dictionary into sentences or paints on a palette into a painting." • "The question is whether the creative effort in playing a video game is enough like writing or painting to make each performance of a video game the work of the player and not the game's inventor." • "We think it is not. Television viewers may vary the order of images transmitted...by pressing a button that changes the channel on their television... Playing a video game is more like changing channels on a television than it is like writing a novel or painting a picture. The player of a video game does not have control over the sequence of images that appears on the video game screen." • "...The most he can do is choose one of the limited number of sequences the game allows him to choose. He is unlike a writer or a painter because the video game in effect writes the sentences and paints the painting for him; he merely chooses one of the sentences stored in its memory, one of the paintings stored in its collection." Video Games, Engines and UGC - - Part I • Video Game Content; • Game Engine; Part II • Lifecycle of the Video Game; • Some Forms of User-Generated Content IP Video Game Content - Video Game Content - 3D Models and Environments - Music, Sound & Voice Acting - In-Game and Concept Art - Story and Dialogue - Characters - Graphics - Art Team - Graphical Artists - Designers - Animators - Musicians & Composers - Writers - Visual Artists Video Games, UGC and IP Management - Characters - Settings - Environments - Locations - Stories - History - Weapons The Game Engine - Game Engine - Creative Suite - Software Modules and Tools - Renderer - Physics Simulation - Artificial Intelligence Management - Music and Sound Generation Lifecycle of a Video Game - Expansions & Downloadable Content ("DLCs"); - Multiplayer Mode or other Versions; - Movies, Animated Series, Comic Books etc.; - Remake/Remaster in 2077? Modding - It's All Fun and Games - Many benefits, including: • More enjoyable; • Popular; • Fix things; and • Prolong its Lifecycle. Machinima - Couple of questions: • Who owns a machinima? • Who should own a machinima? • When can I play World of Cyberpunk? Worldbuilding - IP in the Universe - The plot and most of the characters for Cyberpunk 2077 are new • (Several are not) • Set in 2077 • TTRPG set decades earlier • So why acquire the whole body of the IP? - Acquiring the whole gives you access to the whole universe - Characters and plot give you a story - Companies, Brands, Locations, History, Items - Texture - Immersion Influencers - Streamers - Youtubers - Cosplayers • Instagram • TikTok Video Game Streamers - Popular streamers have millions of followers. - Can reach 6- to 7-figure income - Is what they do infringement? - "Influencers" - alienating may be bad for company Influencers – Issues - Copyright - Is Streaming Legal Without a License? - Performance? - Making Available - What about Let's Play? Is there a Copyright difference between a stream and a Let's Play? Influencers – UGC - Some overlap with conventional UGC - "Background" YouTubers - for example, lore explainers - Cosplay Summing Up - Multifaceted works with a range of issues - Copyright overlaps with many other areas of law, including licensing (as both licensor and licensee) and other forms of IP rights - Novel issues, novel peripheral industries - Potentially outdated areas of law