Legalcore

    If you know anything about copyright laws please reply, otherwise liek stfu plz.

    Ok, so this won't involve any names. Someone on one of the mods I work with has recently decided to quit. He claims he can take all his work with him. I call BS! I think theres laws about freelance projects as a team saying all contributed material belongs to the team. Kinda like when someone quits a company, they can't take there work with them. The mod was formed in the U.S. The quiting member is from Germany.

    This is the most concrete material I could find:

    http://%7boption%7d

    Does anyone know how this would apply to a mod, since members are from different regions of the world, etc.

    Like I said, if you don't know jack about copyright or don't know any solid information, plz liek stfu. kthx

    Quote from OL

    what do you not have a copy of the stuff?

    Quote from DD-

    Like I said, if you don't know jack about copyright or don't know any solid information, plz liek stfu. kthx

    We do have a copy.. he claims we can't use it if he says so.

    since no one actually copyrighted the material, there is no grounds for copyright infringment given the lack of... well copyright to infringe.

    He can't really sue you for anything for a couple reasons. Your mod is not making any financial gain and you're not selling it so the worst case is he could force you lawfully to not include it. But there can be no monetary exchange.

    Also the fact he lives in Germany would make for a sticky international lawsuit, and given you guys are both poor broke kids and there is no money to be made. No one would represent you because no one stands to make any money.

    In short, if you work on a mod you can't really sue anyone UNTIL the mod goes up for sale (cough dod) and you stand to get screwed over your hard work.

    Cheers.

    i wud say just give him his shit back and get some one eles to do it while he's only person atm he cud get a freaking n00b army to come smack u up AKA lame arse ddos attack or ur site going down etc, plus if its his work its his work ur gonna have to give him credit anyway, maybe try and cool shit down then ask for a few bits of his work to stay if u eally need it and just make him feel like god "oooo but your the bestest best bestestestestest evr *butt kissing" but it aint worth it so just del it.

    Actually I think it goes under Intellectuall Property (sp?) and he is owning the rights to it. So there isn't anything you can do... legally... but on the other hand you can do as Mikezilla said use it anyway since you PROBEBLY aren't going to be convicted for it... I wouldn't but its up to you.

    Thats why all mod makes should force their members to sign a NDA and sign their work over to the mod.

    just use it, you will prob only have to do something if the game is actually sold for a profit or something like that. and in that case you should just give him what hes owed for writing it

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Thanks for the links chips, but those only apply to businesses.

    We aren't trying to wrong this guy, we're trying to stop from being screwed. If this guy pulls out like he claims he can, then 8-9 months are down the drain. That's bs, just because this person can't get along with others. Like the entire team.

    So far from what I read his work belongs to the mod. It's basically work for hire, but freelance. If anyone knows anything about international copyright laws, non-profit for hire internation copyright laws, please talk!

    He owns his own work because he never signed a contract with you. When you think of businesses owning the work of their employees, that is because a lot of companies that deal with development put that clause in their contract. So under any court system, you wouldn't go anywhere with this (both stateside and in Europe). He created it and was nice enough to share it, but that is the extent of that.

    I know that is really unfair, but that's life and that is how mods go. Your best action is to try to smooth things over with him and try to get his work or permission to use it. It's your only real avenue to explore (other than stealing his shit and telling him to fuck off)

    Quote from madcow

    just change like a few of his things, call them your own - everyone else seems to get away with it

    is there no justice :::!!!

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