Copyright does it apply

[Amasido]

So it has been made pretty clear that taking content from other users is against nexus rules. But what i didnt seem to find in their list was whether or not it was allowed to design meshes based upon concepts other people have done. The reason i ask this is because i had always assumed this was allowed assuming it was all your own work an example being the lich king armor and sword. Though the concept is originally from blizzard it isnt actually their creation technically however recently another mod was banned for somewhat of the same situation the "dark daedric axe" from what i have heard. I dont want to argue the point on what is allowed and what isnt,i just want to know the border on what is acceptable here on the nexus so i can get on making mods without any worries that it will be banned through my ignorance. If you can clarify this issue it would be greatly apprecciated :D

 

P.S srry for lack of grammar

Edited July 9, 2012 by Amasido

[AlexanderJVelicky]

As long as you model it all yourself that's okay. You'll see a very large amount of mods that are remakes or immitations of things from other games.

 

If you were a full blown game company you would have to pay for the IP, but it's a mod and is not for profit so it's allowed and nobody will jump down your throat for it.

[Amasido]

That is good to hear i suspected as much but thank you for confirming my thoughts :D

[David Brasher]

I most cases, you can claim that the work that you were inspired by was inspired by somebody else much earlier. So lets suppose you downloaded a mod with a custom lich in it that you really like. It inspired you to use Blender and other tools to build another lich from scratch. If the mod author gets mad and says that you stole his idea and that the concept of the lich belongs to him, you can just say, "Look at Oblivion. It had liches. Look at Dungeons and Dragons. It had liches." And then you can accuse him of stealing ideas from other people if he still won't shut up and leave you alone.

 

If viewed in that light, William Shakespeare stole almost all of his ideas from books he read and plays he watched. Hollywood usually steals all of its ideas from earlier books, plays, and movies. So I do not believe you will get in any trouble at all if you do your own work with the software.

Edited July 9, 2012 by David Brasher

[Rustle32]

I most cases, you can claim that the work that you were inspired by was inspired by somebody else much earlier. So lets suppose you downloaded a mod with a custom lich in it that you really like. It inspired you to use Blender and other tools to build another lich from scratch. If the mod author gets mad and says that you stole his idea and that the concept of the lich belongs to him, you can just say, "Look at Oblivion. It had liches. Look at Dungeons and Dragons. It had liches." And then you can accuse him of stealing ideas from other people if he still won't shut up and leave you alone.

 

If viewed in that light, William Shakespeare stole almost all of his ideas from books he read and plays he watched. Hollywood usually steals all of its ideas from earlier books, plays, and movies. So I do not believe you will get in any trouble at all if you do your own work with the software.

 

Very true. You can not copyright an idea.

 

Copyright is very tricky with mods. In many ways, Mods are like fan fiction. You are adding content to a pre-developed world, the original Intellectual Property owner retains the right to their content. If you base a design on some other source and insert it in, as long as you don't name it the same, it should be exempt from copyright infringement. Classic example is where an artist created a unique work. Another artist creates a similar, but not exact work of art. Not infringement, per several court cases.

 

Some IP owners are forgiving when it comes to use of their properties. Some are not. The ability of a copyright owner to maintain their rights is all in their willingness to defend that copyrighted work in court.

 

This has to do with individual derivative works, not the mass duplication or copying as in pirating DVDs or music.

 

If you use the Creation Kit, in the EULA, Bethesda claims all the rights to published mods. This means if Bethesda really likes a mod made with the CK, they could take it, use it how ever they wish, like in a DLC or part of a new product, with out compensating the mod's creator.. Exceptions would be if the mod contains already defended copyright items, like the lightsaber mod, or some of the unique armor imports from other games. A very murky area here, though the original IP owner can issue cease and desist letters to have their property removed, if so desired.