Should banned user mods/maps/etc be deleted from these boards?

[Muse]

Authors do not have the right to 'delete' their work from the public domain, whether or not a library they dislike profits from it.

It is rather foolish to advocate an action that will only cause more antagonism, and make less content available to all players.

My comments do not reflect my opinion on the bannings themselves, nor the persons banned-- they simply note a distaste for petty censorship that is nothing but self-destructive.


P.S.
It may even be advisable for Shrapnel to seek out modifications to the game made elsewhere and compile them here, for easier access to all players. With proper accreditation and linking.

[Soyweiser]

Originally Posted by Muse

Authors do not have the right to 'delete' their work from the public domain, whether or not a library they dislike profits from it.

Public domain? I don't think those words mean what you think they mean.

[Muse]

Originally Posted by Soyweiser

Public domain? I don't think those words mean what you think they mean.

They do, and you're obfuscating the point.
"Works are in the public domain if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all."
It would take long years in a sympathetic court to yield even a slight acknowledgment of IP rights on a mod. Especially a mod of one copyrighted game to add the units of another copyrighted game to it.

As I've said, this does not reflect my opinion on the modders themselves, but it is nonetheless accurate.
The purpose of modding is likely to improve something you enjoy. You clearly acknowledge that you will be aiding the game and all who profit from its improvement. Including you.

I'll give a useful example:
If Jim Butcher urinated on the floor of a Barnes and Noble, he may be banned from the premises.
Will the store still sell The Dresden Files? Yes.
And he actually does have the IP rights to that series.

[Soyweiser]

Originally Posted by Muse

They do, and you're obfuscating the point.
"Works are in the public domain if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all."
It would take long years in a sympathetic court to yield even a slight acknowledgment of IP rights on a mod. Especially a mod of one copyrighted game to add the units of another copyrighted game to it.

Creating a mod of copyrighted IP in another copyrighted IP does not an will never ever release anything in the public domain.

I'm not obfuscating the point. You are using public domain wrong. Sure the creators of the mod do not gain the copyright for the mod. But neither is the mod released to the public domain. Public domain is never the issue here. Unless the creator of the mod (a mod which is not based on a third party IP) released it specifically to the public domain. Which nobody ever did as far as I could recall.

So my point stands. You misused public domain.

[Muse]

Originally Posted by Soyweiser

Creating a mod of copyrighted IP in another copyrighted IP does not an will never ever release anything in the public domain.

I'm not obfuscating the point. You are using public domain wrong. Sure the creators of the mod do not gain the copyright for the mod. But neither is the mod released to the public domain. Public domain is never the issue here. Unless the creator of the mod (a mod which is not based on a third party IP) released it specifically to the public domain. Which nobody ever did as far as I could recall.

So my point stands. You misused public domain.

Saying something vehemently enough does not make it true.
You have no point, because you have no evidence, like many other comments made both about the game mechanics and otherwise.

Releasing a work to a publicly available website without meeting the criteria for Berne Convention attachment (originality, derivative-work copyright) places it in the public domain. Period.

Anyone accessing the website can take, modify, repost, and make collages with the mods here without even needing a lick of Fair Use justification.

Originally Posted by LDiCesare

In France they definitely can. Except for software for some reason. The code de la propriété intellectuelle goes so far that there are some rights that cannot be legally transferred (moral rights), and these include the right to no longer allow publication of one's work.

The 'droit de repentir' even in the case of a fully copyrighted work is under the purview of the Court, which can and has denied the right when its exercise would be abusive or was requested under 'disingenuous motives.'

In France, it would be technically legal for the great-grandson of an original author to request the cessation of production, distribution, and display for, say, a book such as The Lord of the Rings.
Will it be denied? Yes. Cultural facet.
Further, it is only enacted at the payment of damages to all owners of the property rights. If the property rights have lapsed into public domain, the damages would be considered infinite.

The 'moral rights' of France even apply to architectural plans, and I must say, the actual court cases for their invocation on those are very amusing.

[Soyweiser]

Originally Posted by Muse

You have no point, because you have no evidence, like many other comments made both about the game mechanics and otherwise.

What do game mechanics have to do with this? And you don't provide any evidence either.

Originally Posted by Muse

Releasing a work to a publicly available website without meeting the criteria for Berne Convention attachment (originality, derivative-work copyright) places it in the public domain. Period.

So if I make a mod based on the IP of both dom3, and warhammer and release it here it is in the public domain? I doubt it.

(And you could always argue that the creation of the mod itself constitutes the creation of a original piece of work).

Originally Posted by LDiCesare

Anyone accessing the website can take, modify, repost, and make collages with the mods here without even needing a lick of Fair Use justification.

If I where to post a mod here in which I used my own sprites, and my own fantasy nation you couldn't. I would still have the copyright on that.

[Muse]

Originally Posted by Soyweiser

What do game mechanics have to do with this? And you don't provide any evidence either.

"Like." An analogy, obviously.

"You're wrong because I said so. Prove you're right."
My evidence is in the letter of international copyright law, which you claim I've misused out of hand, most likely without reading yourself.

Public Domain is literally and shortly defined as: "That which is not covered by Intellectual Property rights."
For the United States: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-definitions.html

Originally Posted by Soyweiser

So if I make a mod based on the IP of both dom3, and warhammer and release it here it is in the public domain? I doubt it.

(And you could always argue that the creation of the mod itself constitutes the creation of a original piece of work).

You can argue anything, the law may state differently.
"For copyright protection to attach to a later, allegedly derivative work, it must display some originality of its own. It cannot be a rote, uncreative variation on the earlier, underlying work."

If you genuinely care, you can start with L. Batlin & Son, Inc. v. Snyder.

Originally Posted by Soyweiser

If I where to post a mod here in which I used my own sprites, and my own fantasy nation you couldn't. I would still have the copyright on that.

The data on the fantasy nation is copyrighted as original work.
The mod itself is not. The mod is public domain, and may be freely distributed.

[LDiCesare]

Originally Posted by Muse

Authors do not have the right to 'delete' their work from the public domain, whether or not a library they dislike profits from it.

Depends on your country.
In France they definitely can. Except for software for some reason. The code de la propriété intellectuelle goes so far that there are some rights that cannot be legally transferred (moral rights), and these include the right to no longer allow publication of one's work.

Art. L. 121-4. Nonobstant la cession de son droit d'exploitation, l'auteur, même postérieurement Ã* la publication de son oeuvre, jouit d'un droit de repentir ou de retrait vis-Ã*-vis du cessionnaire. (...)

So basically anything written in France cannot be published without the author consent, even if there was a paid contract for that. Problem being the paid contract being broken, the author will have to pay an indemnity to the publisher if he wants to stop the publication, and he has to give this same publisher priority should he allow publication og his works again...