Arthmoor Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 There are loads of cases like that. One of the most obvious ones that I know of was from their "one week marathon" of mods showcase. I cant be the only one who thought of "thieves arsenal" for oblivion, when they showed off their water arrows, right?Problem with that logic is that Thieves Arsenal was inspired by Thief, which predates Oblivion. Lots of mods that ended up in Oblivion were the same way, drawing inspiration from other sources. That's at leas in part why Bethesda won't simply rip the content directly. The idea is not protected under copyright. So they can implement it with their own twist and be perfectly safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colourwheel Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 :D id rather talk with colour about the colour of her panties(-mod)! lol You pervert! j/k Just drop into the chatroom from time to time if you want to chat with me though. I ussually spend my free time in the chatroom when i am not working or doing school work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaysus Posted February 15, 2012 Author Share Posted February 15, 2012 @arthmoori guess its simply a very basic idea that everyone gets to eventually if they think how a pre gun powder or air gun predating thief would do its work... kinda like the pyramids emerged on at least 3 continents not because aliens pout them there but simply because its a logical step once you get to the idea of bricks and what the most stable building would be that you can build in your boredomthose are things i believe are not really protectable by copyrightkinda like the idea of a dark lord forging an item to controle the world and a band of weird buddies fighting him is something every 8yr old can come up with, but once you start naming the bad guy sauron and the good guys gondor you definately copied tolkien and its not your idea but i must say thats probably the hardest part of IP rights, deciding where they start and end because theoreticially every idea one can have could also be the conclusion of somebody else, only when it gets detailed do those ideas tend to differ due to different and never equal experiences in life leading to a difference in detail like names in the lotr example or the slightly different ornaments on those pyramids @Dark0necant really comment on this, i have no idea how intervined beth and valve are by now and what deals they have, i can only imagine them charging for the service of offering the download but not for mods itself since then theyd need to supply customer supporti i assume, tho i believe they would probably rather choose the way of TF and only release quality tested mods for money as user made DLCs, for one to ensure less customer complaints or "want my money back" rants and for another could they grow a bunch of devs that way, the most likely thing imo however is that they will simply use the ideas, stats, comments and so on to make more user friendly and better marketable products until they get enlighted or somin i would prefer modder shops similiar to amazons shop option, micro transfers between user and modder directly, putting the cutomer support weight on the modder and only supplying infrastructure and general moderation, that way legal problems could be avoided for the companies and be rested on the modders shoulder yet modders could retain their rights... with that EULA however... well... i made my point on that i think XD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthmoor Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 those are things i believe are not really protectable by copyrightThey're not, which was my point. kinda like the idea of a dark lord forging an item to controle the world and a band of weird buddies fighting him is something every 8yr old can come up with, but once you start naming the bad guy sauron and the good guys gondor you definately copied tolkien and its not your ideaYou're basically telling me you understand all this perfectly fine then. Sauron, Frodo, and the One Ring are a specific implementation of the idea. Those specific implementations, expressions etc, are what's protected. Not the whole "dark lord takes over world" scenario in general. Like pyramids. Nobody can lay claim to the concept. However, if I were to draft architectural plans for a specific pyramid in a specific way, those plans are protected by copyright. The license being used by both Bethesda and Valve ultimately says nothing about them taking your specific implementations of anything and appropriating them for their own use. The EULAs are lawyerese language for protecting themselves from you trying to claim they stole your idea after looking at your mod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colourwheel Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 (edited) Like pyramids. Nobody can lay claim to the concept. However, if I were to draft architectural plans for a specific pyramid in a specific way, those plans are protected by copyright. You can't copyright a building design. You can patent the idea of a building design, granted if the idea is unique enough to not be already stepping grounds to something that is already patented. But that is way different than copyrighting something. For one thing Patents are way more expensive to pursue legal action than copywrite. Because an example of a building plan being used for something that is taken from something that is patent can get very complex. It's debatable legally what the outcome would turn out because patents can expire in 14 years to 2 decades as copyrights last for over 10 decades. Typically speaking, if something is copyrighted I can use it for commerical use in 120 years from now and won't get into any legal trouble. lol Edited February 15, 2012 by colourwheel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthmoor Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Sorry, but no. Building designs CAN be copyrighted, though there are exceptions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colourwheel Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 (edited) Sorry, but no. Building designs CAN be copyrighted, though there are exceptions. Not going to download a file just to read about how a building plan can be copyrighted. So I will give you the benifit of the doubt. Even if someone wanted to copyright a building plan, what is the point? Think someone is going to mass produce the building from design to detail? Even if someone took the plan and used it to build from it's exact detail for a home, it's pointless to take legal action because its just a residential home. Even if someone took the plan and made small changes for the final result you are entitled no royalties even as commerial use. Unless you have patents on specifics of a design, copyrighting a building plan is a total waste of money. I lived in a house in cleveland Ohio that was a frank lloyd wright design. The design was copywrited but the builder made small changes. The person who built the house didn't ask for permission and didn't have to give any royalties to their family after he finished building it. The house was completely made of glass on one side viewing lake Erie. Edited February 15, 2012 by colourwheel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthmoor Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Hey, I can't dictate to the Copyright Office how they put their info online. My guess is that someone in Congress was convinced by some architectural firm that their work in drawing up building designs should be protected. Probably because these guys get paid lots of money to do this for a living. It would be stupidly easy to steal stuff like that and take credit for it if there was no protection for it. Copyright is NOT a waste of money either. Registering one offers you one hell of a hammer to wield in court for damages. Even for something free like a mod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colourwheel Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Copyright is NOT a waste of money either. Registering one offers you one hell of a hammer to wield in court for damages. Even for something free like a mod. Never said copyrighting was a waste of money. But copyrighting a building plan is, unless you have patents on specific of the design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthmoor Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Congress doesn't appear to agree, or they'd not have amended the Copyright Act to allow for architectural works to be copyrighted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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