This chapter focuses on the issue of game adaptation infringement. It first provides an overview of game adaptation as a “bright spot” in cultural industries, followed by an explanation of the rise in “game re-skinning” cases caused by the current copyright regime’s failure to properly define game adaptation infringement. The chapter reexamines the scope of the right of adaptation and its intersection with the right of reproduction from a normative perspective, and suggests that the normative target of the right of adaptation differs from that of the right of reproduction, in spite of their considerable overlap. This notion is further strengthened by an exploration of the game designing process. Drawing lessons from judicial practice in the US, the chapter proposes a more balanced testing scheme—a new three-step test—to address game adaptation infringement. Strictly compliance with the proposed three-step test would prevent courts from unduly restraining competition and follow-on innovation and interfering with the reasonable interests of the original creators.

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Addressing Copyright Infringement in Video Game Adaptation: A More Balanced Approach

  • Zhaoxia Deng

摘要

This chapter focuses on the issue of game adaptation infringement. It first provides an overview of game adaptation as a “bright spot” in cultural industries, followed by an explanation of the rise in “game re-skinning” cases caused by the current copyright regime’s failure to properly define game adaptation infringement. The chapter reexamines the scope of the right of adaptation and its intersection with the right of reproduction from a normative perspective, and suggests that the normative target of the right of adaptation differs from that of the right of reproduction, in spite of their considerable overlap. This notion is further strengthened by an exploration of the game designing process. Drawing lessons from judicial practice in the US, the chapter proposes a more balanced testing scheme—a new three-step test—to address game adaptation infringement. Strictly compliance with the proposed three-step test would prevent courts from unduly restraining competition and follow-on innovation and interfering with the reasonable interests of the original creators.