- Pseudo-Legal opinion
- Exemptions in DMCA
- Biden Executive Order
- Nintendo effect
- Console Classix
- Controlled Digital Lending
- First Sale Doctrine
The lines between "reference and inspiration", and "swiping and plagiarism" can be murky as CodieKitty notes in 'Swipe-rium'. A goal of this project is to be able to provide commentary on the theory that some of Paprium's IP is borrowed from Sega, SNK, and other historic gaming sources.
There has been a long raging debate about how much of the Paprium content is "stolen", vs. an "homage", or "inspired by" other games. The conversation of course has direct relevance in determining what is "fair use" vs. "infringement" with regard to use of Paprium's game assets, and game play logic.
A secondary goal of this project is to examine the security ramifications of using an STM32F4 as part of an internal copy protection dongle for a video gaming system. This protection mechanism is not only prone to failure, but also exploitation due to known glitching issues in the STM32 chipset. As a result there is a vulnerability in the ability of this protection mechanism to function as designed. Future use of a similar design would leave intellectual property at risk of disclosure. "Dumping" is common in the video game scene, specifically in the Sega Genesis & Megadrive landscape that Paprium operates within. Future indie game designers will want to avoid complicated dongle examples such as the one found within Paprium. Failure to do so can mean the release of buggy game carts, just like Watermelon Games encountered with their release of Paprium.
Per the US Copyright Office: "Preregistration is not a substitute for registration, but is a preliminary step prior to a full registration that will take place after the work has been published or infringed". Paprium was preregistered with the US Copyright Office on: 2016-03-08 citing "Creation of Work Began" 2012-01-01, "Date of Anticipated Completion" 2016-06-01, and a "Projected Date of Publication" of 2016-08-16. "Type of Work" was "Preregistration", with "Type of Work Preregistered" listed as Computer Program (may include a videogame). You can search for Preregistration number PRE000008627 for more details.
The original works were by "Copyright Claimant":
WaterMelon Games Limited.
Address: 361-363 Lockhart Street,
Kiu Yin Building, Room 22B,
HongKong,
Hong Kong,
With the following names attached to the registration:
Godde, Gwenael
Martins, Luis
Burton, David
Hughes, Trevin
Godinho, Lionel
WaterMelon Games Limited
As part of the preregistration paperwork WaterMelon Games Limited provided the following Description of Work:
Paprium is a project for the SEGA Mega Drive / SEGA Genesis game system;
The video game style is Beat Them All (brawler) in post-apocalyptic setup and with cyberpunk elements.
Game Story:
"Earth is set to ashes... Survivors of the nuclear winter gathered at an equidistant point of Pyongyang, Tokyo, and Shanghai. This place is a city named PAPRIUM. Fight your way through PAPRIUM with Tug, Alex and Dice. Redefine the word justice, deal with the drug temptation and most importantly... STAY ALIVE.";
A. Paprium includes:
1) Original Game software engine programmed in C and 68000 assembly language, mechanics described in section B;
2) Original Story;
3) Original Artwork;
4) Original Soundtrack compositions;
5) Original cartridge hardware specially developed for the game;
6) Original Recordings of voices and sound effects to be used in the game;
7) Original Advertisement motion pictures and artwork;
8) Original Story in book format that may be published as a book or art-book;
9) Original Accessories such as game controller, arcade cabinets, posters, figurines.
B. Game mechanics includes: Punches;
Blocks;
Jumps;
Charges;
Front grab;
Back grab, where the enemy act as a shield;
Use of pills to gain temporary power and unlock a special attack move;
Players and Enemies can become dizzy after receiving a major hit;
Weapons such as metal bar, knife, wrench, electrical shock stick, extinguisher to freeze enemies, mechanical arm for extra punch power;
Vehicles such as cars;
Game is comprised of 24 levels, split into four sections, with interconnecting points (branching).
C. To be released in physical cartridge format, with full color packaging, instruction manual, artbook, audio disc, poster, stickers and other goodies.
The game began shipping in December 2020 to original crowdfund backers. Per the press release: December 16th, 2020, 00:00 GMT - PAPRIUM IS RELEASED!
On 2020-12-22 Copyright registration PA0002318843 was completed with a "Date of Creation" listed as 2020, "Date of Publication" listed as 2020-12-16, and "Nation of First Publication" listed as United States.
The "Copyright Claimant" is now:
WATERMELON CO.
Address: 615 Cedar St.,
Suite 101,
Muscatine, IA,
52761,
United States.
The following is the only name attached to registration: WATERMELON CO, with "Rights and Permissions" assigned to WATERMELON CO, watermelon@watermelon-games.com
The type of work is now: Computer File, and the description has been simplified to
Computer cartridge., with the following note attached:Videogame.
Exemptions to Prohibition against Circumvention of Technological Measures Protecting Copyrighted Works
"Video games in the form of computer programs, lawfully acquired as complete games. For personal, local gameplay; or To allow preservation in a playable format by an eligible library, archive, or museum, where carried out without any purpose of commercial advantage and without distribution outside the physical premises."
"Computer programs on lawfully acquired device or machine or computer, computer system, or computer network on which a computer program operates. When circumvention is made soley for the purpose of good-faith security research (accessing soley for purposes of good-faith testing, investigation, and/or correction of a security flaw, or vulnerability, in an enviornment designed to avoid harm to invdividuals and the public, and where information is used primarily to promote security of devices on which the program operates) and does not violate any applicable law."
A discussion document of the register of copyrights
"Note that the terms 'library' and 'archives' are not defined in section 108, or section 101".
Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies
"Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete. A dongle shall be considered obsolete if it is no longer manufactured or if a replacement or repair is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace."
A Victory for Software Preservation: DMCA Exemption Granted for SPN
"The final rule allows eligible libraries, archives, and museums to circumvent technological protection measures on certain lawfully acquired computer programs (including video games) to preserve computer programs and computer program-dependent materials."
"Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies"
"In this final rule, the Librarian of Congress adopts exemptions to the provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (‘‘DMCA’’) that prohibits circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works, codified in the United States Code."
Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy
"To address persistent and recurrent practices that inhibit competition, the Chair of the FTC, in the Chair’s discretion, is also encouraged to consider working with the rest of the Commission to exercise the FTC’s statutory rulemaking authority, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, in areas such as:
...
(ii) unfair anticompetitive restrictions on third-party repair or self-repair of items, such as the restrictions imposed by powerful manufacturers that prevent farmers from repairing their own equipment;"
President Joe Biden’s latest executive order is a huge win for right to repair because it specifically calls out "unfair anticompetitive restrictions on third-party repair or self-repair of items", just like the DT128M16VA1LT concept in Paprium imposes on any end user lucky enough to acutally obtain the game. Manufacturing errors make these games subject to failure in the near future. They need to be preserved accordingly, and end users need to be able to repair broken game cartridges.
The current legal refrence is always Nintendo, and their deep pockets of influence
Nintendo Legal Information
"the limited right which the Copyright Act gives to make backup copies of computer programs does not apply to Nintendo video games."
Console Classix Legal FAQ
"Yes. We have taken great pains to fulfill every letter of the law. Our images were made by our own personnel. The data was copied directly off the cartridges we own and the image was transferred using a generic EPROM reader. All of these steps were taken in accordance with the law."
Letter from NOA to Console Classix
"There is a good deal of misinformation on the Internet regarding the backup/archival copy exception. It is not a "second copy" rule and is often mistakenly cited for the proposition that if you have one lawful copy of a copyrighted work, you are entitled to have a second copy of the copyrighted work even if that second copy is an infringing copy. The backup/archival copy exception is a very narrow limitation relating to a copy being made by the rightful owner of an authentic game to ensure he or she has one in the event of damage or destruction of the authentic game, not for the purpose of acquiring financial gain. Moreover, It is well established by judicial decisions in the United States that this limited exception does not apply to game data contained in ROM semiconductor chips in video game cartridges. Therefore, whether you have already an authentic game or not, or whether you have possession of a Nintendo ROM for a limited amount of time, i.e. 24 hours, it is illegal to download and play a Nintendo ROM from the Internet.
Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 512(d)(3), Nintendo notifies Consoleclassix that its actions are illegal and may be subject to criminal prosecution and civil liability. We will be monitoring your website to see if you are in compliance with the law and reserve the right to take all steps necessary to protect Nintendo's rights. "
Response to the letter from NOA
"We would first like to address the matter of our ROM images. Our images were created by our own personnel with a generic eprom reader. This is in obedience to section 117 of the US copyright law. This exception does, in fact, apply to data contained in ROM semiconductor chips. It was the decision of the court in the case of SONY vs. CONNECTIX that copying of software in the Playstation's ROM bios was legal. This software is contained in ROM semiconductor chips, just as the game data in Nintendo cartridges.
We would also like to address the concern that we are publishing our images on the internet. This is simply untrue. We offer a client software that does connect to our server through an internet backbone. However the images are not simply available for download. When a client requests a game image, the server places this image into the client random access memory (RAM). This image is also produced in accordance with section 117 of the US Copyright Law. Our server side application tracks the images that are currently in use. This application also ensures that no more copies of a software package are in use than are in our possession. This is to ensure legal rights of our users to the game in question. Should communication between the client and the server fail, the server frees the image and the client clears the memory allocated for the game, thereby destroying the client's copy of said game. We are also granted the right to lease copies of a software in our possession, provided we also ensure the customers' rights to the original software."
A White Paper on Controlled Digital Lending of Library Books
"CDL enables a library to circulate a digitized title in place of a physical one in a controlled manner. Under this approach, a library may only loan simultaneously the number of copies that it has legitimately acquired, usually through purchase or donation. For example, if a library owns three copies of a title and digitizes one copy, it may use CDL to circulate one digital copy and two print, or three digital copies, or two digital copies and one print; in all cases, it could only circulate the same number of copies that it owned before digitization"
Why authors are so angry about the Internet Archive’s Emergency Library
"The Internet Archive is arguing that with the Emergency Library, it’s doing exactly what all public libraries are doing, legitimately and legally, only it’s eliminated the waiting list."
Temporary National Emergency Library to close 2 weeks early, returning to traditional controlled digital lending
"Controlled digital lending is how many libraries have been providing access to digitized books for nine years. Controlled digital lending is a legal framework, developed by copyright experts, where one reader at a time can read a digitized copy of a legally owned library book. The digitized book is protected by the same digital protections that publishers use for the digital offerings on their own sites. Many libraries, including the Internet Archive, have adopted this system since 2011 to leverage their investments in older print books in an increasingly digital world."
Internet Archive’s Open Library and Copyright Law: Second Addendum
"Whether or not this litigation determines that Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) constitutes copyright infringement, this battle between new technology and existing channels of distribution will undoubtedly be a disruptive force in book publishing"
Hachette v. Internet Archive
"The Internet Archive is a nonprofit digital library, preserving and providing access to cultural artifacts of all kinds in electronic form. CDL allows people to check out digital copies of books for two weeks or less, and only permits patrons to check out as many copies as the Archive and its partner libraries physically own. That means that if the Archive and its partner libraries have only one copy of a book, then only one patron can borrow it at a time, just like any other library."
My Library: Copyright and the Role of Institutions in a Peer-to-Peer World
"Today's technology turns every computer-every hard drive-into a library. Every household can maintain and organize a stunningly large collection of media, from music to movies to texts. But if each hard drive is a kind of library, should we give the institutions traditionally known as libraries any special consideration in copyright as we historically have done? Can we distinguish the activities of institutional libraries (whether open to the public or attached to schools or universities) from those of individuals or of bookstores?'"
1854. Copyright Infringement -- First Sale Doctrine
"The first sale doctrine, codified at 17 U.S.C. § 109, provides that an individual who knowingly purchases a copy of a copyrighted work from the copyright holder receives the right to sell, display or otherwise dispose of that particular copy, notwithstanding the interests of the copyright owner. "
Would You Like to Save Your Game?: Establishing a Legal Framework for Long-Term Digital Game Preservation
"There is also the reality that much of this preservation is driven by individuals with nostalgic and personal attachments to the games they are preserving through these methods, and it is impossible to say whether future generations will pick up the torch of private, illegal preservation or if all those ROMs will simply fade into obscurity."