Cube Posted January 16, 2008 Posted January 16, 2008 Some of you may or may not have heard of the PC game Star Trek: Bridge Commander. An American Store is selling the game with a "Bonus DVD" with new content for the game. This new content is not official, but rather created by fans of the game (myself included). I'm appalled that the store is practically making money from something that I worked on. Is it legal for them to do this?
Mr_Odwin Posted January 16, 2008 Posted January 16, 2008 It probably depends on the way that you made and released this thing. The shop may be charging just for the physical media and the time spent burning/creating the disc. Sounds very dubious though.
nightwolf Posted January 16, 2008 Posted January 16, 2008 Some of you may or may not have heard of the PC game Star Trek: Bridge Commander. An American Store is selling the game with a "Bonus DVD" with new content for the game. This new content is not official, but rather created by fans of the game (myself included). I'm appalled that the store is practically making money from something that I worked on. Is it legal for them to do this? Is there any proof that you and others created the game? Otherwise it wouldn't be considering legal if you had proof that they are selling the game you made without your permission to sell it. I'm pretty sure its not legal to be selling the game anyway, because it could breach copyright.
Cube Posted January 16, 2008 Author Posted January 16, 2008 Is there any proof that you and others created the game? Otherwise it wouldn't be considering legal if you had proof that they are selling the game you made without your permission to sell it. I'm pretty sure its not legal to be selling the game anyway, because it could breach copyright. It's the additional content that's the problem, not the game. And yes, there's plenty of proof that we created the stuff. The shop may be charging just for the physical media and the time spent burning/creating the disc. That'll probably be their excuse, then.
nightwolf Posted January 16, 2008 Posted January 16, 2008 Well then they shouldn't be selling the item without permission of the creators, not to mention you should be in equal share of the profits.
Supergrunch Posted January 16, 2008 Posted January 16, 2008 That'll probably be their excuse, then. I'd imagine it's a mixture of that, and the fact that game mods are probably a grey area for copyright, because you're using someone else's code or whatever.
Domstercool Posted January 16, 2008 Posted January 16, 2008 If the company allows it then I don't think there is a problem. There was one with the Doom collection on PC that came with 1000s of mods for Doom.
Cube Posted January 16, 2008 Author Posted January 16, 2008 I'd imagine it's a mixture of that, and the fact that game mods are probably a grey area for copyright, because you're using someone else's code or whatever. For Bridge Commander, the developers/publishers released a license that meant that we could mod every part of the game (apart from the game engine) as long as no selling was involved.
Mundi Posted January 16, 2008 Posted January 16, 2008 For Bridge Commander, the developers/publishers released a license that meant that we could mod every part of the game (apart from the game engine) as long as no selling was involved. Aren´t they breaching that license by selling the mods?
Supergrunch Posted January 16, 2008 Posted January 16, 2008 Aren´t they breaching that license by selling the mods? I imagine the difference is that it's not the modders who are profiting.
Charlie Posted January 16, 2008 Posted January 16, 2008 I imagine the difference is that it's not the modders who are profiting. But the original developers won't be profiting from the mods either, only the shop. How did you originally release the mods?
jayseven Posted January 16, 2008 Posted January 16, 2008 The 'grey area', as far as I know, basically says that you can mod their shit, but it's still their property. You're developing freeware using their IP, so they can redistribute it if they wish :/
gaggle64 Posted January 16, 2008 Posted January 16, 2008 It's an interesting quandary. You should try sending your story to Kotaku or something. You never know, this sort of thing seems right up their alley.
DCK Posted January 16, 2008 Posted January 16, 2008 What license have you released the mod under? If it's GPL, anyone is free to do with it whatever they like, as long as it's open source. Any other copyleft license makes this perfectly legal as well.
Kirkatronics Posted January 16, 2008 Posted January 16, 2008 It probably depends on the way that you made and released this thing.The shop may be charging just for the physical media and the time spent burning/creating the disc. Sounds very dubious though. but isnt charging for the physicalmedia/time just like what the people who copy DVD's? im going to spend time typing up the harry potter books and selling them, im sure that isnt legal. but if thats what they are doing it isnt fair but then if its licensed under GPL or something similer, its 100% legal
Mr_Odwin Posted January 17, 2008 Posted January 17, 2008 That's what I was saying - it depends on the license that it's released under. If it was GPL and they're selling it to recoup costs only then that's fine. (Of course your HP example is silly - those works are copyrighted in an entirely different way - I'm not dumb.)
Cube Posted January 17, 2008 Author Posted January 17, 2008 Thanks everyone, it seems like what they're doing is legal.
darkcloud Posted January 17, 2008 Posted January 17, 2008 Thanks everyone, it seems like what they're doing is legal. Wouldn't it have been better to mail the publisher/developer of the game instead? They would know more about the situation. :-/
Cube Posted January 17, 2008 Author Posted January 17, 2008 Wouldn't it have been better to mail the publisher/developer of the game instead? They would know more about the situation. :-/ Not if they don't respond. The developer hasn't been up to a lot during the past four years and the publisher doesn't really care about it's Star Trek games anymore.
Mr_Odwin Posted January 17, 2008 Posted January 17, 2008 Not being funny - but you could look at it as cool that the thing you made is getting out to as many people as possible.
Shino Posted January 17, 2008 Posted January 17, 2008 Are they charging extra money for the Bonus Content? If so, how much? Not being funny - but you could look at it as cool that the thing you made is getting out to as many people as possible. That's what I was thinking.
Cube Posted January 17, 2008 Author Posted January 17, 2008 Not being funny - but you could look at it as cool that the thing you made is getting out to as many people as possible. I'd prefer it if they asked, though. Anyway, I've found out that the website has been reported to Totally Games/Activision not just for the mods, but because they're selling pirated versions of the game.
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