MBC under fire for breach of copyright
Gom TV, Blizzard take legal action against MBC
By Kim Tong-hyung
It wasn’t long ago that the country’s professional gaming leagues were enjoying beaming status as a new national sport. But recent developments, including stagnant television ratings, a crippling match-rigging scandal and an escalating copyright dispute with the creator of the science fiction-themed game that propelled the televised tournaments in the first place, appear to have the public’s love affair with electronic sports turn increasingly sour.
The inevitable became reality Monday when Blizzard Entertainment, the U.S.-based developer and publisher of the iconic StarCraft strategy games, confirmed that it had filed a law suit against the cable unit of national television network MBC for managing and broadcasting new StarCraft leagues without a licensing deal.
Next on Blizzard’s hit list appears to be another cable channel, OnGameNet, and the Korea e-Sports Players Association (KeSPA), which first touched off the copyright dispute in 2007 when it sold the television rights of the StarCraft leagues to local broadcasters without Blizzard’s consent.
Critics say that the legal dispute exposes the clumsiness and ineptitude of KeSPA and broadcasters in handling intellectual property issues, as well as raising questions on how much longer can the Korean e-sports scene rely entirely on StarCraft for its legitimacy.
After watching months of negotiations turn circular, Blizzard cut ties with KeSPA in May and instead partnered with online video provider, Gretech-GomTV, which was granted the exclusive rights to operate and broadcast StarCraft tournaments and negotiate deals with television networks.
MBC Game and OnGameNet recently started broadcasting their new StarCraft leagues, not being bothered too much by the fact that they have yet to ink a new deal with Gretech-GomTV. MBC Game further irked Blizzard by declaring that this year’s MBC StarCraft League (MSL), an annual individual tournament, will progress as scheduled.
``The recent actions by MBC Game were deliberate and serves as an official proof that it had been infringing on Blizzard’s rights over intellectual property,’’ said Bae In-sik, the chief executive of GomTV.
``Every time the negotiations seemed ready for progress, (MBC) came up with new conditions to nullify the efforts and turn the talks back to the starting point. We have come to a conclusion that taking legal action against MBC Game’s infringement of intellectual property is our last choice.’’
Blizzard wants to be paid more for its intellectual property, which it claims hadn’t been properly respected over the years, while KeSPA and the broadcasters claim that the company is asking too much.
Blizzard had allowed MBC Game and OnGameNet to televise KeSPA-arranged StarCraft leagues until August, which marked the end of the previous season, and stressed on a new deal being reached before restarting the broadcasts.
However, critics claim that KeSPA and cable television firms deteriorated the situation, as well as put the future of their product at long-term risk, by failing to take Blizzard’s threats seriously and insisting on the negotiations to continue even as they pressed on with their unlicensed broadcasts.
Gretech-GomTV has currently been offering cable television firms 12-month contracts that demand broadcasting fees of 100 million won (about $89,600) per league and other conditions. This will amount to around 700 billion won in annual payment for the cable television firms, which operate about three StarCraft leagues per season in both individual and team competition.
Blizzard, which says its lawsuit is less about the money than for protecting its intellectual property rights, has been balking at KeSPA’s demands to have full rights for operating commercial StarCraft tournaments and televising them.
An official at MBC Plus Media, which handles MBC Game and the television network’s other pay-television-related businesses, claimed that Blizzard is irrespective of the role the cable firms played in increasing StarCraft’s popularity and elevating the country’s e-sports scene.
The copyright dispute could linger on for significantly longer should Blizzard and MBC Game fail to agree on the conditions to settle their conflict out of court, and a counter-sue by MBC Game remains a possibility.
``I can’t understand why KeSPA and the cable television firms allowed the situation to get so out of hand. The dispute seems more about egos than money, and all parties can easily move on if KeSPA and the cable television firms admit that there is intellectual property to be respected,’’ said an official at an online games firm, who didn’t want to be named.
``KeSPA and the cable firms definitely want a bigger say, but they also made themselves more vulnerable by failing to develop professional leagues based on other games than StarCraft. This will be crucial for the country’s e-sports leagues in the future.’’
StarCraft is a military science-fiction game that has permanently reshaped Korean leisure habits and spawned a massive market for computer gaming since its debut in 1998. Blizzard sold more than 5 million copies of the first StarCraft game in Korea alone, which accounted for half of its global sales, and is currently enjoying a bright start to the sequel StarCraft II that was released this summer.
StarCraft is also credited for the emergence of e-sports here, hooking millions of television viewers to watch professional players battling in packed arenas.
A StarCraft league match in 2004, held at an outdoor arena near Busan’s Gwanganri Beach, drew more than 100,000 spectators, which could be compared to the crowd at a World Cup final. Currently, the country’s most expensive StarCraft player is 18-year-old Lee Yeong-ho, who says he earned more than 30 million won in 2009 alone.
However, the popularity of e-sports leagues appears to be waning, with the pro leagues failing to come up with a game to complement the first version of StarCraft that was released in 1998.
The integrity of the leagues were severely shaken after a match-fixing scheme was exposed in May, with some players and officials charged for accepting bribes from gambling websites to rig the games.