2013-06-27, 06:35 PM
Mick, you're the only person I know who can be shown overwhelming evidence and still deny reality- it's like a super power. Ever think of putting on a super hero disguise and fighting crime? Even if the bad guys shot you, you could just insist they hadn't and the bullet holes would disappear.
My work in translating games is related to this topic from a legal standpoint, and I've talked about it to some people who are knowledgeable on copyright precedent. Translation patches generally contain no copyrighted work, but game companies still issues cease and desist orders to translating teams occasionally. Translators have never bothered to resist such an order so there's no court precedent saying that translating is legal or not. But in general, copyright rulings tend to favor strict protection of copyrighted material. The original creators have sole ownership and right to benefit from their creation unless those rights are specifically granted to another by contract. SoM's agreement clearly says that From maintains ownership of the software (which includes game.exe).
Michael Jordan recently won a law suit against a restaurant who ran an ad saying "Congratulations Michael" because his name is copyrighted. When Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor, he won a suit against a company that made bobble headed political dolls and forced them to stop making a doll that looked like him. I don't think copyright law is fair, but that's just how it is.
So ML pretty much hit the nail on the head; From isn't likely to cause trouble unless a fan game made it big, but they could if they wanted to. And who wants to go to court and fight it out for a chance that the court would rule in your favor?
My work in translating games is related to this topic from a legal standpoint, and I've talked about it to some people who are knowledgeable on copyright precedent. Translation patches generally contain no copyrighted work, but game companies still issues cease and desist orders to translating teams occasionally. Translators have never bothered to resist such an order so there's no court precedent saying that translating is legal or not. But in general, copyright rulings tend to favor strict protection of copyrighted material. The original creators have sole ownership and right to benefit from their creation unless those rights are specifically granted to another by contract. SoM's agreement clearly says that From maintains ownership of the software (which includes game.exe).
Michael Jordan recently won a law suit against a restaurant who ran an ad saying "Congratulations Michael" because his name is copyrighted. When Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor, he won a suit against a company that made bobble headed political dolls and forced them to stop making a doll that looked like him. I don't think copyright law is fair, but that's just how it is.
So ML pretty much hit the nail on the head; From isn't likely to cause trouble unless a fan game made it big, but they could if they wanted to. And who wants to go to court and fight it out for a chance that the court would rule in your favor?