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But in this case, that's Blizzard's right. They own it whether you like it or not. Just because something is important doesn't mean they should lose property ri
by jakebasile 9y ago
But in this case, that's Blizzard's right. They own it whether you like it or not. Just because something is important doesn't mean they should lose property rights to it.
Abandonware is a thing and I remember there being some legal headway made recently in that respect, but Starcraft isn't abandoned. They just released a compatibility patch and made it free to download.
- jpgvm 9y agoI'm not talking about distribution, merely archiving. I don't think it's reasonable to argue against archiving when it clearly has cultural significance.
- corobo 9y agoThere's absolutely no chance in hell the dude saying he sent a copy to archive.org would have stopped those reddit threads from foaming at the mouth. People want the code, not the archive.
- unicornporn 9y agoIt's their right now, but in "life + 70 years" it could have been an incredibly valuable cultural heritage in the hands of the public. Now the game will die when Blizzard chooses to stop adapting the game to new platforms.
- uzoodoo 9y agoIn this case, not necessarily. For example, here's a de/re-compiled version of Starcraft for the ARM/Linux-based OpenPandora, with no help from Blizzard: https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/threads/starcraft.73844/ https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/threads/starcraft.73844/
- Berobero 9y agoIt's Blizzard's right, but only insofar as that happens to be what copyright terms say right now. Also, something having intrinsic value to society at large outside of the ability of a private entity to benefit from ownership is, quite literally, the reason why people should lose property rights to copyrighted works at some point.
- antihero 9y ago> that's Blizzard's right Sure, legally. But the question is whether we care. Ethics are relative.
- hd4 9y agoI would make a slight amendment to that >whether we care But I'm glad that there are those who get it.
- laughingman2 9y agocorporate shill
- sctb 9y agoPlease stop.
- chii 9y agoBlizzard does not lose their rights to it when somebody uploads the source code publically. If someone decides to use theor source code that they did not obtain a license for, blizzard can always sue. Reading and learning from said source code is, and should not ever be illegal.
- corobo 9y agoUploading it is using it. The uploader would be sued if anyone. Anyone else using the code would be sent a C&D first.
- sneak 9y agoIntellectual Property isn't property, and publishing things does not deprive anyone of their property rights. It's a kludgy hack set up by Congress to prop up industry.
- wcummings 9y agoBlizzard probably doesn't own all the source to SC1, they could have licensed code from other companies that they can't release even if they wanted to.