Copyright and art works in scenarios?

This has probably been discussed before, in a time and place I am unaware of. So apologies.

I'd like to know what CFC's views on copyright are for art works included in scenarios and mods. I mean paintings, music, 3D work etc.

I'll tell you my take on it, having had to take out copyrights on my own work before (writing, photography and films):

It's fine to use them but be nice enough to credit the artist for God's sake. These uses are for educational and non-profit making activities. There should really be a blanket 'educational license' to cover all this typically. This is what your typical university library has I believe. It stocks many books and artworks but does so for educational and non-profit making reasons. I think the same applies to generally posting stuff on CFC.

I don't really know what goes into unit making but I got the impression that there are some restrictions here. Do please enlighten me and others who are curious about these things.

Thanks

hi Ram. i know that cfc doesn't look too kindly at copyrighted music files being 'shared' on the forums. think of the 'file sharing' fiasco that is now present in today's age.

i'm not sure about art and other stuff though. however, i'd always err on the side of caution if i can possibly do so.

Haha, I should have put two and two together and just PMed you El J. Guess I was afraid of the charges that would incur, what is it your offices charge per minute on PM ? But anyway, flippancy aside. You're right to bring up the file sharing thing. It's very tricky.

*beds in to see what others have to say*

Rambuchan said:

Haha, I should have put two and two together and just PMed you El J. Guess I was afraid of the charges that would incur, what is it your offices charge per minute on PM ? But anyway, flippancy aside. You're right to bring up the file sharing thing. It's very tricky.

*beds in to see what others have to say*

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heh...i bill hourly actually...$85.00 per hour.

i guess my suggestion would be to look for images that are a part of the 'public domain'. wikipedia has tons and tons of these types of images which are, for all intensive purposes, free from the encumbrances of intellectual property copyrights. yes, i work for an attorney!

Personally I'm a lot more wary of including music than anything else.

El Justo said:

heh...i bill hourly actually...$85.00 per hour.

i guess my suggestion would be to look for images that are a part of the 'public domain'. wikipedia has tons and tons of these types of images which are, for all intensive purposes, free from the encumbrances of intellectual property copyrights. yes, i work for an attorney!

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You are a pricey paralegal, El Justo. Does your law firm handle criminal cases as well?

As a side note, do shows like Law & Order (and similar shows) accurately portray court processes/procedures, when a criminal
e v e n t u a l l y gets his/her case to court.

But more on topic, I can't really believe that they would cry about copyright's in a game scenario, its damn near advertising for them!!!


@mrtn: you almost have to make your own music to avoid getting slapped with copyright/piracy lawsuits.

Another judiciary inquiry for El Justo (I did kind of answer my own question though):

Would it be illegal to paint your own copy of an artwork and put it in a scenario as your own? Because technically it is YOUR work (even though it is a plagiarism of sorts).

Tank_Guy#3 said:

Another judiciary inquiry for El Justo (I did kind of answer my own question though):

Would it be illegal to paint your own copy of an artwork and put it in a scenario as your own? Because technically it is YOUR work (even though it is a plagiarism of sorts).

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hi Tank_Guy#3.

i guess you could. i'm no expert in patent/copyright law though. my assumption is that holders of a copyright are concerned primarily w/ the instances where others actually profit from the work of others. however, to be on the safe side, i'd try and find 'public domain' images and your worries are all snuffed out. these are all over the net. check wiki b/c they have an arse-load of them.

An arse-load? Is that a legal term for safe content?

Jokes aside, that's good advice El J's giving out. Public Domain and you're safe as houses.

arse: a fangled version of the word "ass"

OK Thanks for clearing that up.

Little off the record thing about all this: No one is actually going to chase any of us down and fine us over using their painting, music etc in a scenario. They'd be wasting their time, money and would look like a new fangled ass in doing so. It just wouldn't be worth their while. Now if you develop a break away success mod and then sell it to some entertainment megalith. - Then they'd be justified and have good incentive to go after you.

Rambuchan said:

Now if you develop a break away success mod and then sell it to some entertainment megalith. - Then they'd be justified and have good incentive to go after you.

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i think firaxis or whomever would be at the front of that line!

I'm using some photographs, etc, that presumably are copyrighted in the Maya scen. If the owners object, I'll remove them.

FWIW - Whenever I post Cartoons on the Political Cartoons thread, I mean like a big series, I've usually had a chat with the people I've got the images from. For example the Thomas Nast series was all done with the full approval of an archive in San Fran. They took the view that I outlined in the OP - that's it's for educational and non-profit purposes. So this organisation was fine with it - as long as I dropped them a credit. And I think with these kinds of things we are doing here, such as your photo TLC, it's mainly about the respect you pay them with a credit. Oh and not lining your own pockets of course.

Rambuchan said:

Little off the record thing about all this: [/I]No one is actually going to chase any of us down and fine us over using their painting, music etc in a scenario. They'd be wasting their time, money and would look like a new fangled ass in doing so. It just wouldn't be worth their while. Now if you develop a break away success mod and then sell it to some entertainment megalith. - Then they'd be justified and have good incentive to go after you.

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I'm not saying they would, because, like you said, it would be a major waste of their time. I must admit though, there are some tight a$$ people in this world, that may let the thought cross their mind. So better safe than sorry.

it takes a pile of cash to litigate this kind of stuff. so, i would venture to say that the infringed would have to be really set back to take on legal actions. however, if they have a thorn up their butt, anything is possible i guess.

As an icon artist and photographer I can tell you that generally artists do not object to someone using their work in a non-profit non-commercial use. If you know who made something you are using you should credit them also.

I looked heavily into this for Modzilla. Generally, companies will ignore usage of copyrighted names, so long as a profit is not being made on it. Think of it as free advertising for them. Things get stickier if you try to use copyrighted images or music. I have a vast collection of images and music from the entire Godzilla series of music (yes I am a freak), but to be on the safe side I will use none of it. Luckily, there is a huge amount of fan-based art on the internet - which is not legally copyrighted - that I am using.

There is a law that states that after 50 years, a copyright on certain materials expires. Since the original, Japanese Godzilla was released in 1954, and wass never released or copyrighted in the USA, I was going to use plenty of material from that. They released it here in the USA on DVD a few months ago, under a new 50 year copyright, so that is out.

I have been trying to contact Toho Studios in Japan, and Columbia Tristar (the American affiliate) for permission to use some copyrighted material and/or clarification of what is allowed, but have yet to get a response from either.

In my personal Modzilla, there is also music from the movies, as well as Godzilla songs from Blue Oyster Cult, Sepultura, and more, but I won't be able to include those for obvious reasons.

Hopefully that clarifies some rules and options for you. What were you thinking of using?

Was thinking of anything specific Ames. Just wanted to have the discussion for everyone's benefit.

Some photos of military hardware seem to be circulating to a large number of sites on the internet, amateurish and more professional, using them for the civilopedia in a mod that you post publicly wouldn't be a crime would it?