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| The argument over used games by Tansin A. Darcos (TDARCOS) 04/24/2012, 1:18am PDT | ||||
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| I've read some of the articles on the subject of availability of used games for sale (at GameStop, primarily) that appeared from the cross-link in a previous item here about good writing for (on line) game magazines. I had no idea there was an issue; I've seen how game stores allow people to buy and sell used games (there are two stores in the area where I live; one is at Prince George's Plaza shopping center in Hyattsville, MD; the other is in a strip mall a couple miles in the other direction in College Park.)
Federal law and the U.S. Supreme Court dictate that when a copyrighted work is purchased, the purchaser owns the item and may give it away, loan it, rent it, resell it or do with it as they please, Bobbs-Merrill Co. v. Straus, 210 U.S. 339 (1908). It is this provision that allows used book stores (and Video rental stores) to exist. No one claims that people who buy used books - or used furniture, for that matter - are stealing from the author or creator. Yet for some reason the game development companies have this belief - or a lot of them act that way or have even gone so far as to say it publicly - that if you're not paying full retail for a brand-new copy, and you're buying a previously owned, legitimately purchased company, that you're committing piracy. The use of the term "piracy" for the unauthorized reproduction of books, films or computer programs is also a rather excessive term being used. Equating an individual who makes an unauthorized copy of a computer program to people who attack commercial ships and hold the ships and crew for ransom is excessive hyperbole. This, to me, equating unauthorized reproduction and purchase of a legitimate copy that was used, seems ridiculous. But the game development companies supposedly spend huge amounts of money to develop a game, and the only money they make is from the initial sale. Well, book publishers and movie makers can say the same thing. Oh, wait, book publishers routinely license less expensive versions of popular books, it's called paperback. Movie companies not only have the original release of the film, they also have a market for the permanent sale of a copy of the film on disc. Fact remains, the resale market exists because game publishers want too much for their releases, and the market is responding to this by allowing people to sell games they no longer want, and to allow people who want games less expensively to buy them used for less money. |
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The argument over used games by 04/24/2012, 1:18am PDT  I shalln't disagree. NT by 04/24/2012, 8:01pm PDT |
