Copyright Issues

[Shadowcran]

Hi. I'm sure most of you know the problems involved with 'borrowing' from existing material. Lawyers dream of the day they can find a new medium to sue, even if the person makes no money off of the product. This is why I'm making this thread. To help you better understand what to watch for.

 

First of all, I've noticed a lot of material dealing With Zelda, Hyrule, etc. You might want to be careful here. This game in particular is VERY protective of copying. I'll give an example.

 

As some of you know, old game systems can be emulated by your PC. A lot of sites exist where you can download an emulator(for SNES in this example) and then download ROMs of old games to play on it. Almost all of these old games are available EXCEPT THE LEGEND OF ZELDA ONES. Even the extremely old NES ones for this are copyright protected and you'd have to go to a pirate site to DL them for your game rather than a trusted, regular ROM site. As anyone familiar with the internet knows, it's highly inadvisable to use a pirate site.

 

In fact, there is an organization that has been set up to prevent a lot of ROMs from being made/downloaded. Most systems since PS1 have a lot of restrictions on what you can freely get.

 

Morroblivion suffered from this. It was an attempt to 'carry over' items, things, etal from Morrowind to Oblivion. Bethesda stepped in and put a stop to it.

 

Also, those involved with the LOTR mods. Be very, very careful. At one point you may have to rename some things in order for it to be allowed. The fact that 95% of LOTR games that have been sold stink on ice, and what you modders are doing embarrasses those for sale games doesn't matter to a copyright attorney.

 

The trick is to work around these laws by mostly name changing or not being in a country with stupid copyright laws like the United States. However, if you're just a bit careful, you can avoid these problems.

 

Another thing would be to check existing Statutes of Limitations. After a certain period of time, material becomes public domain to do with as the public wants. LOTR was created over half a century ago, and should have long since overran this period of time, but with the comparitively recent movies, I'm dead sure someone else owns the copyrights to them now and the Statute probably starts over.

 

Anyway, I did this to protect you guys, not to preach to you. I applaud the efforts of EVERY SINGLE MODDER OUT THERE and give my heartfelt thanks for your efforts.

[Shadowcran]

On a comedic note, you could probably rename LOTR to LOTC(Lord of the Circlets) and avoid notice. Call the land of Zelda "LowRule" and you could do the same. lol

[Thacrudd]

Good post, I hope some people are careful where they tread. I'd hate to see someone else get in trouble after all their effort.

[Vagrant0]

There are some things you fail to understand. While yes, modders should probably think twice before taking a whole world and implanting it in Oblivion, or even using certain parts of certain franchises, This really has more to do with the franchise which is being used and the extent to which it is being copied. You can also get away with certain things simply because it is a fan-made thing and not resold, or claimed as your own unique work. You can get away with other things by framing it in a parody of that source. There is a VERY very big difference between downloading roms for free which were made by a company and sold, and recreating certain elements relating to that game from scratch. In the case of Zelda, the models and textures although represent something belonging to another franchise, are owned and can be freely distributed by those who made them. Zelda itself is only concerned with consoles, and television briefly, so the mod being part of a fan-made mod for a PC game probably won't cause any sort of action unless there were plans to go into the PC market. And even then, that action probably wouldn't affect smaller mods like weapons, armor, clothing, NPCs, but would only be viable if someone were attempting to make the whole world.

[simonp92]

Morrowind to Oblivion. Bethesda stepped in and put a stop to it.

 

Morroblivion still updates.. when bethesda "stopped" it, the version was 97. now there are up to 98.

 

 

BTW.

nice to see a tread like this.. consider looking at this,, http://thenexusforums.com/index.php?showto...mp;#entry539101

 

Can i ask you if you did some research before you posted??

[Shadowcran]

There are some things you fail to understand. While yes, modders should probably think twice before taking a whole world and implanting it in Oblivion, or even using certain parts of certain franchises, This really has more to do with the franchise which is being used and the extent to which it is being copied. You can also get away with certain things simply because it is a fan-made thing and not resold, or claimed as your own unique work. You can get away with other things by framing it in a parody of that source. There is a VERY very big difference between downloading roms for free which were made by a company and sold, and recreating certain elements relating to that game from scratch. In the case of Zelda, the models and textures although represent something belonging to another franchise, are owned and can be freely distributed by those who made them. Zelda itself is only concerned with consoles, and television briefly, so the mod being part of a fan-made mod for a PC game probably won't cause any sort of action unless there were plans to go into the PC market. And even then, that action probably wouldn't affect smaller mods like weapons, armor, clothing, NPCs, but would only be viable if someone were attempting to make the whole world.

 

Why was Morroblivion closed then?

[simonp92]

morroblvion is only closed from big sites like this,,

try some googling, shadow

[Shadowcran]

morroblvion is only closed from big sites like this,,

try some googling, shadow

 

Sigh...The more you call attention to sites going against the rules, the more the ESA notices.

 

Let me give you a link:

 

 

http://www.theesa.com/

[Shadowcran]

ESA Applauds Prison Sentences for New York and Florida Game Pirates

 

August 28, 2008 – Washington, DC – The Entertainment Software Association today applauded the recent sentencings of two convicted pirates to significant prison time. These rulings send a clear message that intellectual property theft and game piracy are serious offenses. On August 20, 2008, U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney in the Western District of North Carolina sentenced Kevin Fuchs of West Amherst, NY, to eight months in prison, to be followed by eight months of home confinement during two years of court supervision. On August 15, 2008, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III in the Eastern District of Virginia sentenced Kifah Maswadi of Oakland, FL, to fifteen months in prison, followed by three years’ supervised release and fifty hours of community service. Maswadi was also ordered to pay $415,900 in restitution.

 

“We commend the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Western District of North Carolina and the Eastern District of Virginia and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their work in bringing these criminals to justice,” said Michael D. Gallagher, CEO of the ESA, the trade group representing U.S. computer and video game publishers. “These decisions illustrate, once again, that game piracy will not be tolerated and the extent at which these criminals will be prosecuted. The ESA and its members will continue to support law enforcement’s efforts to protect the intellectual property of our industry.”

 

On January 3, 2007, Fuchs plead guilty to conspiring to reproduce and distribute copyrighted works, including entertainment software. Fuchs played a key role in the “warez scene” where he was a “supplier,” whose role was to obtain pre-release copies of copyrighted software, and a “tester” who checked the functionality of pirated software after the copy protection was removed or bypassed by other warez scene members. This case was part of Operations Fastlink and Site Down, two of the largest piracy investigations conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice. The operations targeted “warez groups,” which illegally distribute copyrighted movies, games, software and movies online.

 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation field office in Charlotte, NC, handled the investigation of defendant Fuch’s activities. Trial Attorneys Richard D. Green and John Zacharia of the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Klumb, along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Corey Ellis of the Western District of North Carolina, handled the prosecution.

 

The Fuchs sentencing comes on the heels of a fifteen month sentence imposed on a Florida game pirate. On June 3, 2008, Kifah Maswadi pleaded guilty to one count of criminal copyright infringement. He admitted to selling “Power Players,” which are game systems that connect directly to a television and were pre-loaded with at least 76 pirated copies of video games. From 2006 to 2007, Maswadi sold these game systems containing illegal copies of games via the Internet and earned more than $390,000 through this illegal activity. Maswadi was facing up to three years in prison but received a reduced sentence for cooperating with the government.

 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation field offices in Washington, DC, Tampa, FL, and Jacksonville, FL, handled the investigation of defendant Maswadi’s activities. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay V. Prabhu and Trial Attorney Tyler G. Newby of the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section handled the prosecution.

 

The Entertainment Software Association is the U.S. association dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of companies publishing interactive games for video game consoles, handheld devices, personal computers, and the Internet. The ESA offers services to interactive entertainment software publishers including a global anti-piracy program, owning the E3 Media & Business Summit, business and consumer research, federal and state government relations, First Amendment and intellectual property protection efforts. For more information, please visit www.theESA.com.

[simonp92]

listen up..

 

morroblivion is not agianst the rules.. i think that maybe bethesda would shut down their homepage then..