AToop1 Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 (edited) Sorry for second topic could not figure out how to change title of previous post. Thank you basescu for the suggestion of change of title. anyway Check out this topic: Link to Middle-Earth Roleplaying project forum post Basically MERP (which stands for Middle-Earth Role-playing Project) a total conversion mod for Skyrim was sent a cease and desist letter from Warner Brothers the current owner of the Lord of the Rings franchise. Right now they seeking to resolve this and continue modding. Try and spread this and gain support for the mod developers. If you want to see a lot of their progress go here: MERP Moddb page show support through twitter #SaveMERP and facebook To Save Merp Facebook Page Edited September 1, 2012 by AToop1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsmanners Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 Right. This is why you should never make huge mods based on popular stories. Lawyers that "own" those stories get nervous and think you're trying to compete with their video game scam. See also http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1407150-merp-received-a-cd-letter/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ez0n3 Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 Lucas Arts is another sue happy company. I've lost count of how many times they've shut down projects going back to the Quake franchise. Can't you just re-name the stuff that matches what's copyrighted? Like "Middle-Skyrim" or "Center-Earth" instead of "Middle-Earth" and what not? That's the only way I've seen people get around it (that's not a light saber, it's a laser sword ;)). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basescu Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 ...Or they could just work on the map and release it. They can't prove it's Middle Earth. After that they work on quests under different aliases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankdema Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 i'm so mad right now... such a waste of resources and work... hope that the authors release all the existing assets anyway.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bben46 Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 The really sad thing is this would not have competed with any game they license, and would have been good publicity for their movies. But copyright lawyers don't think that way. They seem to have a very narrow mindset - if the name is at all similar then you absolutely must pay us a lot of money for a licence because you are copying the works of that people we bought the copyright from. So what if the story and most of it are nothing at all like the copyrighted stuff. We will shut you down because we can, and unless you are willing (and able) to spend a lot of money to show a judge that you are not really violating the copyright you are SOL. LOTR & WB is not the only franchise that does this - The Harry Potter people do it also. They can't see that they are alienating their most loyal fans and turning them into bitter ex-fanbois that from now on will spread the word of what jerks the LOTR people, WB and copyright lawyers are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack013 Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 why don't you just ignore them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phenderix Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 (edited) Hmm interesting...if you loosely are based on it I don't think they can do that...I was looking forward to a release from them. Edited September 2, 2012 by phenderix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsmanners Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 The really sad thing is this would not have competed with any game they license, and would have been good publicity for their movies. But copyright lawyers don't think that way. I don't know. Battle For Middle Earth 1 and 2 were okay, but that franchise has gone downhill since then. It's been six years, so they have good reason to be nervous about any hint of competition. You know what they say: If you can't compete, litigate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancer916 Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 A better idea would have been for WB to formally endorse the initiative and hard work that's gone into the MERP, instead of spitting in all of our faces and rubbing it into our eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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