Comment on Rock Band 4 to be delisted on tenth anniversary following the expiration of its licenses
Omegamanthethird@lemmy.world 1 day agoThere are a bunch of Marvel games that are exactly like this.
Somewhat related. I tried to watch Guava Island, which was apparently only made available for Amazon for a limited time, then it just disappeared.
I think it should be legal to download or stream any of that stuff that’s no longer available.
frongt@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
It’s certainly ethical, if not legal.
You could make a good argument in court, too. Hard to show damages when there’s no possibility of profit because you’re not selling it.
tmyakal@infosec.pub 19 hours ago
That’s actually a very bad argument in court. Taking things off the market to drive scarcity and boost sales at a later date is a normal and common business tactic. See: the McRib, Pumpkin Spice Lattes, and the Disney Vault.
Omegamanthethird@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
I think there’s a difference between unavailable and limited availability.
There are some old games that may never come back. In many cases, there’s no agreed owner. Imagine if something became public domain after a short period of no use (5 years, 10 years maybe).
tmyakal@infosec.pub 15 hours ago
Rights-holders can make these products available whenever they want. Nintendo added many old “abandonware” games to their subscription catalog that had been unavailable for much longer than ten years. If someone else is putting them out for free, they’re stealing Nintendo’s lunch.
There are very few cases where copyrighted material would have no owner and no legal mechanism to determine ownership.
Not saying I support the current system. I think current US copyright law is ridiculous and a net negative for our culture. Just clarifying that “Well, no one was selling it” is not a legally defensible position when it comes to copyrighted work.
mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 hours ago
The McRib is actually an awful example for this, because McD’s primary deciding factor is the price of pork. When pork prices drop, McD revives the McRib. They want to manufacture them as cheaply as possible. Then when the prices start to climb again, they pull it from the menu. That’s why they don’t do big “it’s coming back on this date, and leaving on this date” announcements ahead of time, because those announcements would affect the pork prices as pig farmers would anticipate the upcoming large McD orders, and subsequent dips when they stop selling.
Apeman42@lemmy.world 12 hours ago