The current video game industry produces video games as complex intellectual creation works that incorporate a number of individual intellectual creation works such as scripts, drawings and design elements, dialogue, music, characters, computer software, etc. Human interaction with video games is possible through a computer program.
But who is the author of the video game? We consider that there is not a single author of a video game, but there are several authors of the video game, namely, the authors who have made original creative contributions to its development: designers, computer programmers, authors of dialogues, authors music, etc. Certainly the multitude of authors of a video game does not exclude the possibility, but even imposes the need for a single owner of patrimonial copyright rights to the video game. Will be the owner of patrimonial copyright rights to the video game person who assigned the copyright to each author, as a rule, the video game maker. As far as the author’s moral rights are concerned, they remain with the creators of the creations and can not be the subject of transmission to third parties.
In the case of interactive video games, the question arises whether players can be authors for the creations they make during the game. We believe that if the game allows a player to load a pre-existing work (created by the player independently of the use of the game), the player is the author of that work. Uncertainty over the legal status of a player’s creations may occur if the player creates the work within the game, using the mechanisms and means provided to him by the game. In this situation, it should be considered whether the player has “created” the work by selecting only certain items included in the game or if the player created the work using the game’s mechanisms but who did not impose a limited choice of a sum of elements included in game.
The protection of video games in international law has various legal regimes, some states assimilating them to audiovisual works, others assimilating them to computer programs, others recognizing their character as a self-creating work.
Although “video games” are not expressly listed among intellectual creation works protected by Law no. 8/1996 on copyright and neighboring rights, it can not be consider that, under Romanian law, video games are not protected, as the enumeration in art. 7 of the Law no. 8/1996 is exemplary and not limiting.
As it results from art. 1 of the Law no. 8/1996, any literary, artistic or scientific works, as well as any other works of intellectual creation, are protected by law.
We appreciate that in Romanian law, video games can enjoy protection as self-standing, with a proper legal regime.
