Vugraph

[hrothgar]

From my own perspective, I differentiate between:

 

1. The raw Vugraph feed which shows a progression of bids and cards played over time

2. Commentary which is related to said facts

 

I would personally favor a system in which

 

1. The raw Vugraph feed is made available for free

2. Individuals (or groups) have the ability to create subscription based chat channels in which they provide commentary. Viewers should have the option to subscribe to whatever set of channels they feel best meets their unique requirements.

 

Personally, I see nothing wrong with some set of high skilled commentators setting up a fee based service. I suspect that I would probably even pay for such a service. (Mind you'd I'd pay even more to be able to mute some of the commentators we have currently)

 

Of course, all of this requires a real chat system.

[qwery_hi]

From my own perspective, I differentiate between:

 

1. The raw Vugraph feed which shows a progression of bids and cards played over time

2. Commentary which is related to said facts

 

I would personally favor a system in which

 

1. The raw Vugraph feed is made available for free

2. Individuals (or groups) have the ability to create subscription based chat channels in which they provide commentary. Viewers should have the option to subscribe to whatever set of channels they feel best meets their unique requirements.

 

Personally, I see nothing wrong with some set of high skilled commentators setting up a fee based service. I suspect that I would probably even pay for such a service. (Mind you'd I'd pay even more to be able to mute some of the commentators we have currently)

 

Of course, all of this requires a real chat system.

The raw vugraph feed is property of the ACBL or the organization hosting the tournament.

[hrothgar]

From my own perspective, I differentiate between:

 

1. The raw Vugraph feed which shows a progression of bids and cards played over time

2. Commentary which is related to said facts

 

I would personally favor a system in which

 

1. The raw Vugraph feed is made available for free

2. Individuals (or groups) have the ability to create subscription based chat channels in which they provide commentary.  Viewers should have the option to subscribe to whatever set of channels they feel best meets their unique requirements.

 

Personally, I see nothing wrong with some set of high skilled commentators setting up a fee based service.  I suspect that I would probably even pay for such a service.  (Mind you'd I'd pay even more to be able to mute some of the commentators we have currently)

 

Of course, all of this requires a real chat system.

The raw vugraph feed is property of the ACBL or the organization hosting the tournament.

Tricky subject:

 

The ACBL / USBF are most definitely in a position to block anyone from transmitting any kind of VuGraph feed. However, I don't think that this is equivalent to property rights.

 

I know that certain sports organizations like Major League Baseball have attempted to claim copyright over factual information such as scores. In a similar vein, some folks in the world of chess have made an attempt to claim copyright over individual games. As I understand matters, the courts have rules that raw information about the game can not be copyrighted, however, the surrounding commentary can be.

 

Part of the reason that I like the dual feed implementation is that this is deliberately designed to be consistent with (my understanding) of copyright law.

[NickRW]

Tricky subject:...

IANAL, but I think your understanding is correct and true for at least most countries.

 

Nick