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Question on Posting Match Analysis

Posted By: Steve Mellen
Date: Tuesday, 16 February 2010, at 6:07 p.m.

In Response To: Question on Posting Match Analysis (Stick)

Which country are you claiming would recognize "moral rights" to the record of a backgammon match? I'm pretty sure the Berne Convention, the most important international agreement on the subject, would not recognize a "moral rights" claim by a participant in a sporting event or a game like backgammon.

When I say that Reggie Bush ran around left end on first down for 3 yards, I don't think I've violated Bush's intellectual property rights. When I say Phil Ivey held AQ and won with a straight on the river, I don't think I've violated Ivey's intellectual property rights. When I say Stick rolled an opening 6-4 and moved 24/18 13/9, I don't think I've violated your intellectual property rights. In all three cases, you simply can't copyright the facts about what happened in a competition.

I don't begrudge anyone the opportunity to make a buck off whatever they do well. But let's be clear, no one is actually making a buck here. If you were to organize a big-money backgammon tournament to be financed in part by selling a book of the tournament matches, I think the backgammon community would fully support your right to keep others from spoiling the work by publishing the matches first, because the backgammon community wants more big-money tournaments. But this isn't actually happening, and I have my doubts that anyone would pay even a nickel for a collection of unannotated backgammon games. And getting back to reality, if someone says "don't publish my games at SHG, someday someone might pay me money for them!" I have to ask whom they think they're kidding.

I advised the OP that it would be perfectly respectable for him to publish the matches and to indicate that if anyone has a problem, they should let him know and he'll take those matches down. That seems eminently reasonable. The idea that he's violating intellectual property rights and needs to seek advance permission from each and every player is a bit much.

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