The computer games market is constantly evolving, and a computer game itself, understood as a work of art, is an incredibly interesting and expansive combination of many artistic and creative expressions. In this installment of Technoglogy, we will explore the issue of copyright in games through the lens of esports, i.e., professional competitions between computer gamers.

AND.

Let's begin by determining the scope of copyright as defined by the Act of 4 February 1994 on Copyright and Related Rights (Journal of Laws 2021.0.1062, as amended) (hereinafter referred to as the Copyright Act). Pursuant to Article 17 of the Copyright Act, the author has the exclusive right to use and dispose of the work in all fields of exploitation, and to receive remuneration for the use of the work. From the above article, we can extract the three most important components of copyright:

1. Use of the work, i.e. broadly understood exploitation activities, e.g. the moment of introducing the work into circulation);
2. Disposing of the work, i.e. performing any legal actions aimed at granting another entity the right to use the work;
3. There is no remuneration for its use.

Property rights themselves and their exercise apply to all fields of exploitation, or forms of their use. Article 50 of the Copyright Law provides examples of such fields of exploitation. These include:

1. Fixing and reproducing the work;
2. Trade in the original or copies on which the work was recorded – introducing into circulation, lending or renting the original or copies;
3. Distributing the work in a manner other than that specified in Article 50, point 2 of Copyright, i.e. e.g. public performance, display, reproduction, etc.

II.

Moving on to the heart of the topic, let's focus on the sphere of electronic sports, or e-sports. Right from the start, we can see that the sphere of activity involving the use of a given game for electronic sports gameplay differs from the aforementioned fields of exploitation. During computer games, there is no reproduction of the work or its introduction into circulation. Similarly, there is no distribution of the work, as viewers of the broadcast (usually on a streaming platform) are only able to use the work in the portion shown on screen (without the ability to participate in the gameplay). Furthermore, given the above, participants in a given e-sports event cannot be treated as individuals who have purchased a copy of the game.

All of the above considerations lead to one conclusion: that computer game use should be treated as a separate field of exploitation, not specifically mentioned in the Act. Dr. Michał Biliński argues that this is an additional argument in favor of granting a key role to the regime governing the transfer or use of copyrights, which would be able to regulate legal and property issues, but also to some extent replace regulations granting national sports associations exclusive rights to organize specific competitions in given traditional sports.

As you can see, the topic is extremely interesting and, in our opinion, deserves further consideration, especially considering the dynamic development of the e-sports scene, which will inevitably lead to the creation of an increasing number of regulations relating specifically to events of this type.

This alert is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

Bibliography:
Electronic Sports. Legal Nature; by Dr. Michał Biliński; 2021; 1st edition

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