how far can you go?

    i just read this article and thought this would be something worth discussing. not so much the actions taken (i'm sure we can all agree that poaching from indie developers is a vulgar display of greed), but more on how it would be possible to prevent things like these.

    apparently there are developers who want to take up the fight and have started a fund against this, but to me it seems like there is need for something more. treat this as an attempt to provoke at the very least debate around the topic, and at expectation solutions for indie developers as well as major studios to circumvent or otherwise be able to ignore shakedowns such as these.

    Quote

    When people hear music they like, they play along on air guitar. When they love a movie, they quote it. If they love a book, they write (or at least dream up) some fanfiction. And when they play a game they enjoy, they

    Kill people at school? Oh, sorry.

    There's collated information about the history of this Edge fiasco here including quotes from ex-employees and his other legal threats to make money. What leaves the worst taste in my mouth about this how he has absolutely no qualms using other people’s trademarks to his advantage; Demonstrated with the coquettish advertising of his new game Mirrors and website banner. Unfortunately you can't just find a loop hole or go to court with these trademark (and patent) trolls because they have a resource indie developers don't have: lots of money. The only solution is to concede defeat and name the game something else. I'm not sure how well the Chaos Engine will do, I think it'll only stop when he picks a fight he can't win.

    Makes me think how did Mirrors Edge get round it then? I really don't know what you could do about it. In this case the IGDA is no help to him as the guy is on the board of directors. You can't just trademark edge. People like that know you are not going to have the money to fight them in court.

    As far as a solution some sort of organisation is need like a guild or union for studios and indie developers with the funds to help them and the right people heading it up. I assume that’s what the IGDA is suppose to be.

    Quote from sarge mat

    Makes me think how did Mirrors Edge get round it then?

    AFAIK he didn't try it on Mirrors Edge because EA would've torn him a new one.

    Quote from Sentura

    it's a shame to see such a young industry be so corrupt already.

    Heh, back when the games industry started there was no legal support whatsoever and that was even worse. You'd have people hex-editing other games and re-releasing them, ripping artwork wholesale, copy and pasting stills from cartoons and films... It's more of a sign of its infancy. It’s getting better but still too few people in 'power' know much about the industry.

    It’s good to see a lot of distaste on the official forums for the IGDA on this subject. Looks like a lot of support is really starting to rally round for the guy who made the game.

    i've been reading a couple of pages from the thread here: http://www.igda.org/Forums/showthread.p ... genumber=1

    looking at where the user thomas buscaglia, a board member from igda comments on the entire thing, it just gets worse. not only does he shun new member by questioning the validity and merit of their questions, but he also seemingly does not see anything wrong with the case mentioned in this thread. it's grotesque that people can get away with this.

    it seems that the regular members are the only ones speaking up. now i don't know what the entire story of igda is or has been, whether there has been infighting or otherwise controversial disputes, but i am beginning to take a step back from the organization as a whole. associations or unions should serve to help the underdog against the "man", but here it seems that the "man" has taken over the association. i am personally going to boycott igda for what i have seen here. i urge those of you who are associated with igda or otherwise in a position with more information to share your stories and contribute.

    as a soon to be indie developer i am absolutely disgusted by this !

    not sure what can be done can he sue outside his country ?! i mean i am not sure if germany for example would except his copyright of the word edge who owns the english language anyway america ?!

    /edit sue not sew ey ? no need to see that fat girl again

    Everyone should boycot IGDA. It is not just this, there is a whole lot going on in the background. The stuff that goes on there is absolutely beyond words.

    A lot of big studios listed a members. I would like to see a bit of response from a few of them and distance them selves from the organization.

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