This week, three Osaka video game bars announced that they were closing. The reason, it seems, was copyright violation.
Screenshot: 1Up
According to IT Media, the three game bars – 1Up, Catena and Clan – will cease operation on July 29 when their lease ends. 1Up opened in 2013, while Catena and Clan both opened in 2016.
The bars allowed customers to play games for free, while charging them for drinks. The Association of Copyright for Computer Software (ACCS) pointed out that not getting permission from the creators violated copyright. In 2011, ACCS called on game bars across Japan to adhere to copyright law.
An ACCS spokesperson told IT Media that it had warned the management of these three game bars. The management ultimately decided to shutter the three bars when their leases end.
It’s unclear how this will impact other game bars across Japan.
Comments
12 responses to “Three Video Game Bars Shut Down In Japan Over Copyright Claims”
Pretty fair that companies claimed copyright on these bars.
They were eseentially using those games to generate profit without giving any portion of it to the makers of the games.
1UP Yours
What a load of horseshit.
How? Net cafe’s I used to go into would often use cracked versions of games, such as Warcraft 3 and Command and Conquer 3 in order to buy one copy then spread them across say 30 – 40 computers. They did this to avoid in their words ‘having to buy multiple copies’. That’s just pure piracy no matter which way you want to spin it. They’d then collect the revenue off of people using their pc’s to play it.
At no point did the article say piracy or unlicensed software, it said copyright violation.
The bar did something without getting permission from the creator, same situation.
I didn’t get permission from DICE to rub the BF1 discs between my arse cheeks, though it’s the most fun I’ve had with the game yet. Incoming copyright strike my way I guess?
Did you use illegal keys first?
Alright, let me lay it out for you. Article doesn’t mention piracy, the comment you replied to didn’t mention piracy, you mention piracy, you then follow up with some bullshit about permissions from developers as if anything you do you need permission for.
Just so you know, it’s not permissions, it’s law. The copies you purchase as a consumer are generally home use only, as far as I’m aware, there’s laws that prevent you from playing such media in a public environment, that’s law, not permissions.
Hence my jokey response, taking the piss out of what you said. ‘grats, you’ve now wasted my time having to write this shit out.
So you’re saying you didn’t use illegal keys first…
Its not clear in the Kotaku article, but in the source article it says the copyright violation was because they were infringing right of public display.
License and use of copyright material (music, movies, tv, books, software) is usually covered in terms of service that you own the right for personal use only and excludes commercial uses. Unless you have permission or a comnercial agreement to do so. Using their images and sounds for promotion or profit without permission is a violation…. especially if your advertising esports etc.
Japan is really strict on this with the culture of themed entertainment experiences.
If they use gane images to promote their bar, play copyright music etc without an agreement… thats also a violation.
To put it simply.
All sports bars who display sports events via foxtel have to get permission from foxtel and pay a public broadcast fee.
The bar in this article was using the games to generate profit from them without permission from the game owners. Which is copyright infringement. You cannot generate revenue off someone elses copyright without their permission.