If I were to store copies of video games that would be kept secret until the video games entered the public domain (that would happen after 95 years after release under most cases), would this violate the intellectual property of the games' creators, or licensing agreements?
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4Does "store copies of video games" mean legally buy video games and store only what you've bought, or do you mean making (possibly copyright-infringing) copies now, but keeping those copies secret for 95 years?– TripeHoundCommented Jun 21 at 6:51
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1This might be a fun hypothetical, but what's the point? It's hard enough to find a console to play 30-year-old games, what's the chance you'll be able to play these games in a century?– BarmarCommented Jun 21 at 15:59
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1@Barmar: It's very easy to find emulators on which to play those games, and there's enough interest in retrocomputing that people are likely to maintain those emulators.– Nate EldredgeCommented Jun 21 at 17:36
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1 Answer
You ask:
If I were to store copies of video games that would be kept secret until the video games entered the public domain (that would happen after 95 years after release under most cases), would this violate the intellectual property of the games' creators, or licensing agreements?
Mere storage of copies does not infringe copyright
"Copies" is defined in the 17 USC § 101:
“Copies” are material objects, other than phonorecords, in which a work is fixed by any method now known or later developed, and from which the work can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. The term “copies” includes the material object, other than a phonorecord, in which the work is first fixed.
Storing copies is not an exclusive right reserved for the owner of a copyright. The list of exclusive rights is listed at § 106, and storage is not one of them:
Subject to sections 107 through 122, the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following
(1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;
(2) to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;
(3) to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
(4) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly;
(5) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to display the copyrighted work publicly; and
(6) in the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.
A person could accept a contractual obligation to not store copies
It is entirely possible for a person to enter a contract in which they promise to not store copies of a thing. To store such copies would then be a breach of contract.
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I'll note that 17 USC § 117 states this a bit more explicitly, with Copyright and Digital Files providing a more readable summary. In op's case this would likely qualify as an "archival copy."– BrianCommented Jun 24 at 13:03