As soon as the World Championship 2021 began, Riot Games implemented a new policy that will apply at this year’s biggest international League of Legends tournament: banning community channels not affiliated with Riot from posting any content using footage from the World Championship 2021. The exact wording is as follows:
“Throughout the duration of the World Championship 2021, content creators may publish content with footage from the World Championship 2021 in a broadcast format 24 hours after the original broadcast ends. Creators can stream or VOD without displaying images. Always adhere to these rules.”
Legally, Riot’s actions are not incorrect as the issue of match rights is the property of Riot and the official channels, sponsors, and of course, the teams and players. However, community channels have previously operated freely with high quality. In short, posting content that uses footage from matches (for example, highlight clips) by channels not affiliated with Riot or authorized by Riot is a violation of copyright law, and Riot certainly does not like this.
However, from an emotional standpoint, the ability to view that footage is a legitimate need of the community, but not everyone can watch a match live as it airs. Watching highlights can help them summarize the match quickly. And in terms of the speed of posting highlight clips, Riot and its affiliated channels or partners are noticeably slower than community channels. Therefore, Riot’s policy has left the League of Legends community outraged.
However, some viewers also suggest that Riot should consider partnering with community channels as partners to post highlights and footage related to League of Legends.
Riot’s actions are legally justified as the issue of copyright needs to be prioritized and Riot along with the sponsors have invested a lot of resources to conduct the World Championship. However, for the ultimate goal of serving the audience, the “creator” of League of Legends truly needs to consider carefully to avoid unintended harm due to its policies.