Killamike718 said:
What he means, is that non-Blizzard games tried to emulate the original ideas and mod according to that. There were numorous attempts that mods were unfortunately changed their name just so blizzard dont harrass them. One i can think of is a mod formerly called "starcraft Marine" For half life 2 and now its called project oblivion. I also read on the blizzard faq that a concern that they dont want games associated with them, is because they are afraid we will show non-Blizzard quality, if memory serves me right.
Also, I showed a friend of mine the mod, and he (without my knowledge), sent an e-mail to Blizzard about the legality of the mod (not because he wanted to get me in trouble, but because apparently he was inspired to make his own Starcraft mod, and was checking the legality for himeslf. He even sent the link to this mod in his e-mail (I was kinda' mad for a bit...).
The reply simply stated exactly what was shown in the Blizzard FAQ, with the "so long as they are for personal use and do not infringe our End User License Agreement included in our games, nor the rights of any other parties including copyrights, trademarks or other rights." And while being non-commercial does not in and of itself mean that Fair Use applies in this case, the fact that we are using all original artwork, (hopefully at some point) audio, code (besides that supplied by Civ4), and even an original name "Civcraft", we are really not using very much content from the game.
While I'm not a legal authority in
any context whatsoever, my limited research from past experience shows that Fair Use can be identified by a few reasons (I got these mostly from
http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/intellectualProperty/copypol2.htm#test).
1.)
The character of the use:
Is it non-profit, personal use, educational, for-profit? In this case, we're non-profit, and thus this gives weight to being a candidate for Fair Use.
2.)
The nature of the work to be used:
Is the work that will be used fact-based, or more imaginative. Since Starcraft is complete fiction, it is more imaginative. This, then, gives more weight to not being a candidate for Fair Use.
3.)
How much of the work will be used.
While the names of the races, units, building, upgrades, and locations (maps) will be used, we will not use any graphics, audio, or code for any of those things, or even the Starcraft name itself(which I imagine holds a lot of weight). Since of the text, artwork, sound, music, and actual binary software, we're only using some of the text, I'd be willing to say that we're using a vast minority of original Starcraft content. Thus, that puts it as more of a candidate for Fair Use.
4.)
The effect on the market (in relation to the original copywright owner's product) or for permissions if the use were widespread.
That magic word "if" basically says we can't assume that this mod won't get to the point of competing with Starcraft. If that unlikely event ever were to happen, that's when I think we pull all the Starcraft content out, even make new models and such, to make Fair Use more fair. I'm pretty sure Blizzard does not have the copyright (nor can they) to the ideas of the game (such as the idea of a mineral or population limit, or even the ideas that aren't in other RTS titles such as burrowing) so those can be kept.
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While these may just be the incompetent rants of a guy with a cs degree and no law experience, it at least helps me sleep better at night. If anyone with more law experience reads it and sees it as complete BS, please don't respond in any way. Allow me to keep my ignorance.
