Copyright protection of video games: a comparative study

The legal nature of video games in terms of copyright is hard to determine. Video games are highly interactive multimedia that are made up of individual elements that are the ‘product’ of creative effort and expertise. Video games are also complex multimedia works that combine video, music, art and characters. There is a debate on which work is qualified to be copyright protected: is it the video game as a whole or the individual elements of it? To question further, under which category of protected works should they be classified? This article will shed light on the above considerations by employing a combination of doctrinal and comparative analyses. European and national legislation and case law will be analysed, with particular emphasis on four national jurisdictions: Germany, France, Greece and the UK. The article discusses the divergent opinions among academics, national and European case law, and will suggest that copyright registration of video games would provide more clarity.