US Copyright Office denies DMCA exception for game preservation
pcgamesinsider.bizThe United States Copyright Office has denied a proposal that would have allowed researchers access to out of print games.
In its ruling, the government body said that it did not recommend changing limitation that allowed only one user to access computer programs and allowing them to do so only on the premises of an institution that carried said program.
Since 2021, preservation organisation the Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) has been working with the Software Preservation Network in a push to let libraries and archives share out-of-print titles via the internet. Under current legislation, these institutions are legally not allowed to break copy protection to make said titles available for researchers.
"While we are disappointed by the Copyright Office’s decision, we have no regrets about going through this process," VGHF wrote in its own statement. "Over the last three years, working on the petition has helped us generate important research, notably our Survey of the Video Game Reissue Market in the United States report, which proved that around 87 percent of video games released in the United States before 2010 remain out of print. Our combined efforts with SPN have raised significant public awareness of these issues and have already made an impact throughout the game industry and preservation communities."
VGHF went on to say that one reason its efforts failed was that the big publishers lobbied against proposed measures. In the past, US video game trades body the Entertainment Software Association has said that it was against changing DMCA rules to allow games to be accessed for research purposes.
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