Quality games IP protection solutions from Nima Abdullahzadeh right now: The blocking of movie download sites , the anger of the users of these sites , filing a complaint with Netflix, and finally Netflix’s unexpected and controversial response to the Iranian platform “Namava” was a chain of events that confronts Iranian platforms and their users with a serious question: if the real owners of the content And if the copyright holders want to react to what is happening in Iran, what options do they have in front of them? In this article, in a conversation with Nima Abdullahzadeh, legal expert familiar with international copyright cases, we answer this important question. See additional details on نیما عبدالله زاده.
However, Nima Abdullahzadeh says there is also the possibility that the issue will go beyond the DMCA, or attempts to remove content from various platforms, and end up in court. In this case, the owner of the work sues the court for “Copyright Infringement”, which can create very serious challenges for people who are infringing copyright internationally. The first big challenge is that if the CEO or board members of these companies have dual citizenship, they are criminally and legally responsible in the second country, which is most likely a member of the Berne Convention. Abdullahzadeh says: In this case, the owners of the work can complain directly to each of these persons who have dual citizenship. Even the fact that the CEO and members of the board of directors do not have dual citizenship is still not an obstacle to file a complaint. They can file a lawsuit, but its outcome depends on various factors. But the most important point is that the vote is not enforceable in Iran. Finally, there may be restrictions for these people who cannot leave Iran . “Supposedly, the complaint can be made in Canada, and in this case, if the person enters Canada, he will be arrested and must pay the fine.
After presenting the headlines of the conference, Nima Abdullahzadeh explained the importance of intellectual property at the beginning of the speech and by explaining that intellectual property basically refers to anything that is created with thought, she said that basically a game is considered a constructive intellectual property that consists of components. There are different types and each game is an Intellectual Property (IP). Abdullahzadeh further added that by making games, game makers have in fact created IP, and if there were no copyright and intellectual property, there would be no game industry.
The content is not subject to sanctions: It is not known what percentage of foreign content in Iranian VODs has copyright. It is necessary to mention that Iranian platforms (according to themselves) pay copyright for part of the foreign content that is not sold to them – and the percentage is not known. But here Nima Abdullahzadeh points out two important points: on the one hand, the US Department of Treasury has not placed the content under sanctions and American companies are not prohibited from selling content to Iran, although perhaps the internal policy of a company (such as Warner) is to Do not sell the content to the Iranian company. On the other hand, the Iranian side does not gain commercial points by purchasing the content.
An important issue mentioned by the foundation’s legal advisor is the presence of Iran among 29 countries that do not participate in any international copyright convention. From this example, we can refer to the Berne Convention, according to which, if a work is published in one country, it will receive copyright in all member countries of the convention. Of course, the existence of a loophole in this convention has made non-members able to use this law. If the game makers release their game in a member and non-member country at the same time and with a maximum interval of 30 days, the copyright is included in their work. The Internet can be considered as the main key to this solution, and if the game is published in a form that is also offered abroad, the game will receive intellectual property.
Nima Abdullahzadeh: The industry is formed with income, and if there is no intellectual property, they are practically not a game industry either. At the beginning, I personally expected that this speech would be well received, considering the importance of the copyright issue in Iran and the world and the connection of this issue with the publishing of games in the world markets, but the reception cannot be considered acceptable.