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[casserol]

update: they got a petition up : http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-merp-from-corporate-greed.html

hey there people,

while we may, especially on a forum of distinguished gamers such as we are, discuss for a while of why we like (or rather don't) bethesda games , something happened to some modders of their latest game that we cannot accept.

people making a LotR themed mod for skyrim have received a cease and desist letter from Warner Bros, the "rightful owner" of the rights over video game adaptation of tolkien's works.

look it up it's all over the web, and you can read the team's announcement here : http://www.moddb.com/mods/merp-middle-earth-roleplaying-project

please make noise and show support !

[Frumple]

*vague shrug* From what I understand, if they don't fight for it (the copyright junk), they've got a chance of losing it. Which means they have to at least go through the motion of legally prosecuting those who ostensibly infringe.

I've never quite figured out why they (not just WB, but major rights holders in general, since there's been several majorly impressive projects that got C&D'd to varying levels of effectiveness.) don't just greenlight projects like this (free publicity, good PR move, potential monetization later on), but I guess (/hope, because otherwise...) they've got some kind of reason for it.

As for the mod itself... I don't really expect anything but a shutdown. It's happened pretty much every other time something like this has happened, so I don't see it going differently in this case

But maybe not! Maybe they'll be able to fight it, and manage some precedent setting that opens up some older projects to release. That'd be awesome.

[Heron TSG]

Good luck to them. I can't believe that Warner Bros is trying to use copyright law to prevent others from using a source material that they didn't even write. That's just bullshit.

[casserol]

I'm personnaly not a big fan of skyrim neither lotr, but i'm really pissed off by thieving corporate punks trying to seize and scam and control everything and everyone and make thousands of peoples life's harder so they can buy a 3rd yatch . Seeing the high profile of skyrim and the mod this is a good occasion to make some noise about it.

This is so unfair. Those modders are making a brilliant creative work for the sake of art, gdmnit.

[Jelle]

I'm sad to see such a wonderful project halted. Nothing more disgusting then corporate greed putting a stop to the selfless work the people behind this mod were doing.

Wich is what I don't get about this, why would Warner Bros want to put a stop to this in the first place. No profit is being made, the only thing being made would have been publicity. That is if they didn't request a cease and decist, now it's just bad publicity for them...

I don't frequent social sites like facebook or twitter and such, how can I support the mod anyway?

[Akura]

How can they do this, exactly? Is the mod based on material from the books, movies, or other video games based on the books/movies(two different series of the games, at least, based off either source)? I'm not quite sure which WB has the rights to(sure as hell hope it ain't the books).
The modders aren't making any money from releasing it, nor would WB lose any money. WB doesn't really stand to gain anything from C&Ding them, either.

[Frumple]

If th'OP's accurate, WB has rights to video game adaptations; which is to say anything that's adapted to video game format, not from.

As I understand copyright, no, they don't really stand to gain anything from pushing against the mod, but they may stand to lose something if they don't. Namely the copyright, as if you don't attempt to prevent unofficial adaptations (that are outside stuff like fair use, et al, which the transformative arts group mentioned in the link is attempting to fight through usage of) then you run the risk of losing said copyright.

That's why you see things like this mod shut down, because if the rights holder doesn't defend their lawful right, they can apparently be legally be stripped of it. Don't know the legal particulars of it, that's the gist as I've learned it. Blame copyright law first, the company forced into distasteful action second

[Flying Dice]

My understanding of copyright law is similar to your own, Frumple. If they do nothing, they're essentially saying that they don't need to hold the copyright to protect their investment/income/whatever, which means that they can lose it.

[Alkhemia]

Then why has Bethesda or Interplay not done anything about FOnline? Also though fan made Pokemon MMOs.

[McTraveller]

My understanding of copyright law is similar to your own, Frumple. If they do nothing, they're essentially saying that they don't need to hold the copyright to protect their investment/income/whatever, which means that they can lose it.

False.  Copyright cannot be "lost" like that - at least not in the US.  Patents also do not require defending. For bot, failure to defend them may affect your ability to extract damages, but they don't prevent you from trying (this is how submarine patents work, ethical or not).  In the US, only trademarks require active defense.

The only ways to lose a copyright are for you to sign it over to someone else or to have it expire.  But considering the "natural" lifespan of a copyright is life + some number of years (I'm too lazy to go look it up) expiration usually doesn't come in to play.

[fenrif]

My understanding of copyright law is similar to your own, Frumple. If they do nothing, they're essentially saying that they don't need to hold the copyright to protect their investment/income/whatever, which means that they can lose it.

You may be confusing copyright and trademark law there. Trademarks have to be actively defended, not copyright as far as I understand it. Copyright last a set length of time (which conveniantly gets pushed back every time anything might enter public domain), and then can basically be renewed indefinatly.

Good luck to them. I can't believe that Warner Bros is trying to use copyright law to prevent others from using a source material that they didn't even write. That's just bullshit.

Everything about modern copyright law is bullshit.

[Darkmere]

This is the precedent Dota 2 created. For no reason other than lulz, I blame Valve for this.

[Shadowlord]

Apparently WB *does* have the license for all LOTR videogames based on the books or movies... and if they're going to shut down fan-created works, that's disappointing.

[Johnfalcon99977]

I'm not sure if what they are doing is even legal. I don't think you can sue someone over copyright as long as they are not making money off of it. At least, that's as far as I know, and I don't go to law school.

[Shadowlord]

You are wrong. (That is all)