Can an online library of classic video games ever be legal?

This long-running argument was joined once again earlier this month during livestreamed testimony in front of the Copyright Office, which is considering new DMCA rules as part of its regular triennial process. During that testimony, representatives for the Software Preservation Network and the Library Copyright Alliance defended their proposal for a system of "individualized human review" to help ensure that temporary remote game access would be granted "primarily for the purposes of private study, scholarship, teaching, or research."

Enlarge / Lawyer Steve Englund, who represented the ESA at the Copyright Office hearing.Jenner & BlockSpeaking for the Entertainment Software Association trade group, though, lawyer Steve Englund said the new proposal was "not very much movement" on the part of the proponents and was "at best incomplete." And when pressed on what would represent "complete" enough protections to satisfy the ESA, Englund balked.

"I don't think there is at the moment any combination of limitations that ESA members would support to provide remote access," Englund said. "The preservation organizations want a great deal of discretion to handle very valuable intellectual property. They have yet to... show a willingness on their part in a way that might be comforting to the owners of that IP."

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