Should teams attempting to make mods of copyrighted works be allowed to post them?

[The Dark Elf]

Chu brought this up, and a few members/staff feel the same way. The problem being mod teams who have no respect and no knowledge of copyright infringement.

So the question is, should all mods who are trying to make a game using someone elses IP and works. Be allowed to post and advertise on this site If they don't first have permission from the copyright holder. Since in many cases, those threads simply end up with the mod team being made a fool of because they simply don't have permission to do what they are trying to do.

So, how do the majority feel about this.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

Although I do enjoy picking apart the copyright infringers, I think it's best to ban mods that do such. Perhaps place a warning at the top of the 'help wanted' and 'general editing' areas, stating in bold text not to do such things?

-Angry Lawyer

 

[softmonkey]

If the art is going into an actual mod then stop it.

If the artwork is just for fun or practice as long as the original author/concept is mentioned I don't see the harm.

The difficulty comes when modders want to change a mesh - lets say in CS:S - to Batman for example. mmmm...

 

[thorvale the red]

Yes, I agree with Angry Lawyer, a "Please Read Before Posting!" message at the top of the General Editing areas would be great Also, just a suggestion, simply delete the post containing the already-copyrighted mod ideas, and pm the thread starter with a warning, or something like that. I don't know I'm just pulling this off the top of my head

 

[Angry Lawyer]

I was thinking along the idea of intrusive messages, like big pop-ups that appear every time you start a new thread, asking you to sign a contract stating that this thread will not use other folks' IP unless actively allowed by the IP owner. Or something.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[The Dark Elf]

I was thinking along the idea of intrusive messages, like big pop-ups that appear every time you start a new thread, asking you to sign a contract stating that this thread will not use other folks' IP unless actively allowed by the IP owner. Or something.

-Angry Lawyer

I'd be up for something like that, but then I would

-

Softmonkey brings up a good point. Where do you draw the line, Mods of someone elses property without permission are completely wrong, but changing a model in a game to something like Batman, just for fun.. legally yeah its wrong, but would it hurt anyone either way. Would the companies in question _really_ be that bothered in that case.

 

[Kyorisu]

I can't see the harm in copying a few ideas from something else. I just suppose it's how many of these ideas you're talking about. Total clones without permission are a bad thing. Unless we are talking about something generic like Counter-Strike.

 

[Yuri]

I think that there should be a "Important: Please read before posting" thread at general editing and HW&O, with rules about stealing other people's Intellectual Property. This one has been nice, but obviously no one reads it, huh...?

For people blatently copying copyrighted material (not just a model of Batman, something like "What about a LOTR mod?!"), they should be directed toward the thread and then told to get permission, and if they say "no, I'm doing it anyway" then just lock the thread or something. It all ends up in argument anyway...

Eh, what do I know?

 

[63]

I think there should be a sticky called "Mods you CANNOT make!!"
containing a huge list of all of the more popular ideas...

You cannot make these! Do not bother asking or posting until you have permission from whoever it concerns!

- Aliens vs. Predator
- Lord of the Rings
- Jurassic Park
- Smallville
- etc..

 

[The Dark Elf]

I think there should be a sticky called "Mods you CANNOT make!!"
containing a huge list of all of the more popular ideas...

You cannot make these! Do not bother asking or posting until you have permission from whoever it concerns!

- Aliens vs. Predator
- Lord of the Rings
- Jurassic Park
- Smallville
- etc..

Thats a really good idea actually. Nice one Six

 

[Sprafa]

I voted "no" .

I agree with the big pop-up idea.

 

[The Dark Elf]

Well, surprising results so far. Gotta say I'm proud of you guys who respect other people's work for what it is.

Though I think SixThree is taking the piss.. considering he went and got SW permission to use something (something secret for now)

 

[CrazyHarij]

No, not unless they have solid proof they're allowed by the company in hold of the IP and copyright. Just my 2 cents..

 

[Sprafa]

It makes no sense for them to post without permission just to come back whining a few weeks after about how some corporation ordered them to give up.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

By some lawyers, none the less. *Feels proud* But, yeah, rather than have it as a thread, have it as actual text attached to the top of the sections, saying 'please read THIS before posting any mod ideas'.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[Mechagodzilla]

I voted the second option. It just saves everyone the time of explaining basic copyright law to people who should have already known it.

 

[chapel]

As I posted in the sticky thread, I think mods should not use protected IP, as its not legal, but as well unoriginal. Use your brains, spirits, and minds!
(BTW, you can have all three of those, depends on how you look at them.)

 

[Dante]

so what then, a team that does in fact have legal permissions will just be bashed to hell for continuing a franchise and not being original, even though they are developing the entire storyline, characters, vehicles, buildings, music, and lots more from a single paragraph of text about the topic?

my 2 cents.

and yes, EA does know, and support, and will be approving most of the things in my mod.

 

[The Dark Elf]

so what then, a team that does in fact have legal permissions will just be bashed to hell for continuing a franchise and not being original, even though they are developing the entire storyline, characters, vehicles, buildings, music, and lots more from a single paragraph of text about the topic?

my 2 cents.

and yes, EA does know, and support, and will be approving most of the things in my mod.

If a mod has permission, they can prove it, if they can't prove it they clearly don't have permission.

 

[CommandoSR]

This is kind of a problematic situation... when the the project was a mod for EA/Westwood game C&C Renegade, there was no problem with it, but now when it is moving to a third-party engine...

The idea of Commando was to show what C&C Renegade was supposed to be, but since when I realized that it wouldn't be possible or practical, I wanted to use another engine.

If I have to contact EA, where I should look for?

 

[The Dark Elf]

This is kind of a problematic situation... when the the project was a mod for EA/Westwood game C&C Renegade, there was no problem with it, but now when it is moving to a third-party engine...

The idea of Commando was to show what C&C Renegade was supposed to be, but since when I realized that it wouldn't be possible or practical, I wanted to use another engine.

If I have to contact EA, where I should look for?

Contact those who own the rights, just a call to EA and ask for the right people to speak to, an extension or another number to contact.

But yeah, your right about the whole problem now its not on the same engine as their game. They might not be happy with that atall

 

[CommandoSR]

Calling EA... Hmm. Sounds like risky business espicially I'm not sure about what I should say. Not to forget that I'm not a very good (vocal) English speaker and would they really trust a 17 years old teenager?

 

[The Dark Elf]

Calling EA... Hmm. Sounds like risky business espicially I'm not sure about what I should say. Not to forget that I'm not a very good (vocal) English speaker and would they really trust a 17 years old teenager?

Better to ask and be told no than to go ahead and get in trouble.

 

[CommandoSR]

Neither I don't want to cancel the project.. I've spent like 3 months researching the C&C games and 3 months of coding for the Renegade version. Too bad I didn't take in account what could happen if it was moved to other engine and there is no coming back because most of the staff left when the move was announced.

The main idea is derived from early version of Renegade where the main character was Commando from Westwood's (which was part of EA) another game C&C Tiberian Dawn.
http://www.cannis.net/commando/?c4=videodl
Most of things you see here are did not make in to the final game or were cut.

I think I'd better talk with my father about this before I do anything else.

 

[CommandoSR]

And if we're going really nitpicking, would I have to get permission to use the HumVee vehicle design from AM General, Scorpion Fast Attack Vehicle design from Chenowth, tank designs from United Defense and aircraft/missile designs from Lockheed-Martin and Boeing?

 

[FrankThePlank]

No, look at CS. The retail (and 1.6 version) used fake names for the guns, but essentially they were the same, and looked (albeit crappily)
like their real life counterparts; the non-retail version used real gun names though....

You might have harder luck, since C&C is a PC game; some MODs were okayed by publshers (Resident Evil, Metal Gear, etc) for HL1 - sure the mods ended up in development hell; but the point is that they were OK!! A better example would be the Worms mod...

Even if you don't get approved, you might be able to get away with just calling your MOD Commando, which sounds cooler anyway.