To those who think $15 is 'worth it' consider the many chess fans around the world who don't earn dollars or who are living on a daily wage less than that!
They provided the moves free and live to everyone. They just believe they should have the live broadcast rights. Surely this not difficult to understand.
They didnt want to provide it to "anyone". A failed lawsuit and injuction proves that...
I'm surprised by this thread, since I've been watching the videos yesterday, without having paid anything (some people have published a link here and there on the net) ;-)
Cable TV companies charge for their service and you expect to pay to attend events live. Just because some companies make their money from advertising does not mean there is some moral obligation on others to do likewise. I have something of a distaste for advertising and I am not alone in that.
I can see no reason against this attempt to sell coverage of the championship.
I have not paid for a subscription and the viewing figures quoted above suggest that the attempt is a resounding failure. But demanding that someone provide free coverage as though that is a right is a silly response.
The only demands are that of the market, which AGON has failed to understand. I don't care how much money you think you're entitled to make off a product, or how many superlatives you cram into your business plan, if the market isn't there then your business plan isn't worth the paper it's printed on. I can stand on the corner all day trying to sell my "revolutionary" product, but if no one's buying it then the burden is on me to reconsider my product, the way I'm selling it or the asking price. I can, of course, steadfastly refuse to do so, but I won't stay in business very long.
To those who think $15 is 'worth it' consider the many chess fans around the world who don't earn dollars or who are living on a daily wage less than that!
They provided the moves free and live to everyone. They just believe they should have the live broadcast rights. Surely this not difficult to understand.
That pgns and moves were previously judged to be in the public domain reflects an understanding reached when there was no value to be had by live retransmission. That has changed. I feel certain that courts will recognize and protect the exclusivity of live transmission rights.
Nothing has changed. Information about events is not copyrightable. This is long-standing legal precedent (courts are big on precedent) and the courts aren't going to overturn that just because some little company comes along and thinks they should be the special exception to the rule.
Cable TV companies charge for their service and you expect to pay to attend events live. Just because some companies make their money from advertising does not mean there is some moral obligation on others to do likewise. I have something of a distaste for advertising and I am not alone in that.
I can see no reason against this attempt to sell coverage of the championship.
I have not paid for a subscription and the viewing figures quoted above suggest that the attempt is a resounding failure. But demanding that someone provide free coverage as though that is a right is a silly response.
Noone had to demand free coverage! It was already an exciting prospect for every chess media team on the internet to have the honor of covering such a prestigious event. Free coverage was already in the works, as it always has been for the WCC. That's because the previous handlers of the WCC have been smart enough to understand that the game of chess needed and continues to need the mass media coverage that the WCC match affords.
Here's what individuals like yourself need to understand: Those chess outlets who had plans to do live coverage of the WCC never required AGON to "provide", as you say, permission to cover the games.
Why?
Because in order to lease copyrighted material via something called a "Copyright License Agreement", guess what that company has to have? You guessed it! They have to hold an actual copyright on the material they are "leasing" via said contract, and sadly for AGON, neither they nor any other entity have a copyright on chess moves, nor will they have a copyright on chess moves in the future as long as the law is enforced.
The only thing that is needed to do your own broadcast of a chess event are the moves themselves, which are easily transmitted via word of mouth, phone calls, texts, IMs etc. The moment a move has been witnessed and subsequently transmitted in one of the aforementioned modes of communication, it becomes an act which is protected by the 1st amendment, and is therefore fundamentally unable to be subjected to copyright law.
AGON has the right to limit access to its own broadcast. It does not however, have the right to prohibit the transmission, written, verbal or otherwise, of moves witnessed by a spectator of the event, or to prohibit the subsequent discussion of said moves.
As per the legal counsel they no doubt received on this issue, I suspect the many chess media outlets who were bullied by AGON into backing away from their planned coverage of the event probably knew they were completely within their legal rights to cover the WCC, but they frankly don't have AGON's money or their team of legal suits and were likely bullied into capitulation on the issue.
One critical thing about this farce: AGON knows that they have no case in the U.S., as evidenced by the limited proceedings that have taken place in the U.S. District Court. In fact the most probable outcome is that a case like this never even gets to trial, as it obviously falls under the protection of the 1st amendment and will likely be thrown out of court by any competent judge. But the sad thing to me is that lots of chess media groups are located outside the U.S. and aren't necessarily guaranteed the same rights as an American citizen is under the constitution and I am admittedly ignorant of international law. So what do those countries need to do to fight this?
Noone wants to be tied up in court regardless of how bogus the accusations might be, but this issue with AGON isn't going away.
Bullies don't back down until someone fights back, and nowhere is this more true than in the courtroom.
To those who think $15 is 'worth it' consider the many chess fans around the world who don't earn dollars or who are living on a daily wage less than that!
They provided the moves free and live to everyone. They just believe they should have the live broadcast rights. Surely this not difficult to understand.
Its dissapointing once you understand it.