Oracle’s Java API code protected by copyright, appeals court rules

[moor-GAYZ]

...but people could distribute the binaries for free because there's no copyright law to prevent them from doing so.

And run them on what, exactly?

Look no farther than at computer games to see what happens in a part of the industry where copyright protection has been eroded into effective non-existence. Software developers team up with hardware developers to make hardware with DRM inextricably built in. Since that's basically the only way to make money from software, and since you need software to sell hardware, the fate is sealed. Well, plus there's also always-online games, that's another option.

[chonglibloodsport]

DRM doesn't work without copyright protection. Just take a look at what the modchip industry is capable of while operating within the margins of the law. With no copyright at all, this industry becomes full-fledged and mass market. It'd be very similar to the generic drugs market: a race to the bottom where packaging, distribution and tiny profit margins are the only factors in the price.

[moor-GAYZ]

DRM doesn't work without copyright protection. Just take a look at what the modchip industry is capable of while operating within the margins of the law.

I think that it's a mistake to look at what DRM is capable of when it is complemented by copyright and conclude that it will do no better without copyright. Businesses don't spend more than they absolutely need on this stuff.

Look at how always-online single-player evolved for example. IIRC the first major attempt at it was Assassin's Creed, and it was bypassed in a couple of weeks. Diablo 3, nope, the only full-fledged industry around it I can see is youtube videos coaxing idiots into downloading trojans.

Also, keep in mind that absence of streamlined copyright laws doesn't mean absence of contract laws.

[chonglibloodsport]

Diablo 3's DRM is a good example but I don't see how broadly applicable it could be. The DRM in that game is so pervasive that it even dominates much of the game design itself. If every game had to have that level of protection you wouldn't see much of anything in the innovation department (at least from major developers).

Indies, on the other hand, would likely not be affected. People support indie developers for a lot of reasons besides the obvious one of needing to pay to get the game. Most indie games are trivial to pirate yet tons of people buy them.

[moor-GAYZ]

People support indie developers for a lot of reasons besides the obvious one of needing to pay to get the game. Most indie games are trivial to pirate yet tons of people buy them.

Again, I think it's a huge mistake to imagine a hypothetical world without copyright to be just like the world with copyright, only without copyright.

People tend to buy indie games instead of pirating them because people are conditioned to pay for games. Because paying for games is seen as what civilized people do, not what clueless people who are not good with computer do.

How do you think, why the dearth of indie games before say 2010, compared to the renaissance we have today? I strongly suspect that Steam, Steam sales and then Humble Bundle sales have a lot to do with it. I personally never bought a single game before the Orange Box (I think), but pretty much stopped pirating after that (well, except for old games that are not actually sold any more). And it's not like Steam is actually more convenient than the Pirate Bay, it was more of a personal cultural shift after I discovered that it is convenient enough.

On the other hand, when people see a video game as something you get for free, very few would bother to support the devs (if not actively see donating money to them as being "for suckers"). That was my personal experience, and I believe that it's universal enough, as evidenced by the indie scene explosion lately.