Copyright and Intellectual Property rights

[Teddy]

Hi,

We've never had an announcement like this before so consider this a stern warning for the future. We've had a few instances recently of people directly copying content from external sources. If you directly copy and/or use someone's work in your own without permission then you violate intellectual property rights of the original author. Many of the countries you live in do have an international copyright agreement to honor copyrights held in other countries, but most importantly Argonath is hosted and HQ'd in countries which have international treaties for copyright laws and as a result must be compliant with them.

Do note you do not need to legally register a copyright to have it; any original content is immediately copyrighted but individual countries have laws in the process of law suits. In most if you are the holder of unregistered copyright you cannot sue for damages but can demand the infringed content be taken down.

tl;dr
Users caught infringing works of others will be heavily punished due to the legal liability placed on Argonath.

Some terms explained in context to Argonath RPG.

"Derivative work"

Per copyright laws (international treaty) this includes any rework of some original content or work which includes another work. This can be an author's book being translated from English to German by someone other than the author. ONLY the original author has the immediate and exclusive rights to produce derivative work unless expressly given. If you use media from vector sites or a site like deviantart, photobucket, flickr, etc. will usually contain the copyright information and explain if the author will permit their work to be used in other works. If you make a derivative work you do hold a copyright over the new work (varies by country).

tl;dr
What this means for you: If you use an image for the creation of a new image, (e.g taking a background and slapping text on it) you should have the permission (either express or direct) of the original content creator otherwise you are violating intellectual property rights of that work's author. This is especially true for those who make signatures and such.

"Fair use"

Fair use has the immediate right for the following: media (news media) and educational purposes. No use in Argonath will fall under fair use. Other than the use of the name "Argonath". Since we're using a VERY small portion of a work (Tolkien's LOTR) and it's a name of a fictional location, the usage of the name does fall under fair use clause of international copyright, as well as US/Netherlands (technical entity location of "Argonath RPG")/ and in Germany where our sites are hosted. However as a result, "Argonath RPG" cannot legally be trademarked due to it's fictional reference. However content and originality (server scripts) is.

tl;dr
Nothing you'll find can be used in Argonath under any fair use clause. Argonath's name is however used under a fair use clause.

Reminders from the registration agreement:

You remain solely responsible for the content of your posted messages.

and..

You also agree not to post any copyrighted material unless you own the copyright or you have written consent from the owner of the copyrighted material.

Legal:

Take Down requests: [email protected]
If your work is being infringed upon please contact us at the email above with:

Your name
The entity you represent (if applicable)
A link to the infringed work(s)
A link to the original content(s)
Best time to contact

Infringed works will be removed within 24 hours and the user given 48 hours to counter any copyright claim. Users who find copied works can file a forum report as well. Please include a link to the original content.

[Huntsman]

due to the legal liability placed on Argonath.

Do tell.

[Teddy]

Do tell.

Do read.

but most importantly Argonath is hosted and HQ'd in countries which have international treaties for copyright laws and as a result must be compliant with them.

[Huntsman]

Do read.

Oh, I thought somebody has actually breached 'em and caused Argonath trouble.

[[NP]Monte Montague]

Hi,

We've never had an announcement like this before so consider this a stern warning for the future.

At the risk of sounding like a hater, and not to belittle the warning, you should really have not started this thread off like that!

 It makes it look as if we've not given a fuck for years, but we have, honest!!
*looks with puppy dog eyes at the major corporations and the little guys with big ideas who wish to sue ArgonathRPG Community* .

The Argonath community, regular members, members of its leadership, content creators and users and those who share it (as in where license permits its sharing; ergo not piracy) have always stressed the importance of intellectual, copyright law, anti piracy and such areas.

[Teddy]

The idea wasn't to point out the lack of a prior warning; but rather just to iterate the importance of having it.

[Tiny]

Looks like the whole thing I've been doing with Tiny's Art is illegal. :o

Where am I supposed to find the creators of pictures that are easily found on Google to ask them for permission? It's pretty lame, tho there are pics that have proper protection to prevent people using them in a way they don't wish.

[Sweeper]

Looks like the whole thing I've been doing with Tiny's Art is illegal. :o

Where am I supposed to find the creators of pictures that are easily found on Google to ask them for permission? It's pretty lame, tho there are pics that have proper protection to prevent people using them in a way they don't wish.

Google Images > Advanced Search > Usage Rights: "Free to use, share and modify".

[Teddy]

Assuming you're using Google Image Search. Type in a query string like "Cats"

At the top you'll see something called "Search Tools"; another menu will drop down. In this new menu you'll see "usage rights".

"labeled for reuse with modification" - This is the derivative work clause; images here can be used as long as they are modified.
"labeled for reuse" - Doesn't list specific a clause but it's likely the link to the image will have more detailed copyright information.

The next two are the same as above but only for non commercial use. This would be applicable here since you aren't making a profit and under the similar clauses as above.

[Tiny]

Great, thanks for the information. 

[Dutchy]

AKA legal bullshit blabla etcetc how has, is and will this actually affect any users on this forum? and if so in what way.

[Teddy]

AKA legal bullshit blabla etcetc how has, is and will this actually affect any users on this forum? and if so in what way.

If we get (another) legal request(s) we will take more serious action against the person who infringed rights; the person who had recently was simply warned and we removed the items in question. Then a few days before this post I had received a report that someone was yet again copying from elsewhere... while not a legal request this time we evaluated and determined it had infringed and subsequently removed it.

In a nutshell... if someone complains... then it'll affect users in question. If nobody gives a crap, then they're fine.

[Dutchy]

If we get (another) legal request(s) we will take more serious action against the person who infringed rights; the person who had recently was simply warned and we removed the items in question. Then a few days before this post I had received a report that someone was yet again copying from elsewhere... while not a legal request this time we evaluated and determined it had infringed and subsequently removed it.

In a nutshell... if someone complains... then it'll affect users in question. If nobody gives a crap, then they're fine.

Alright, beside from me not understanding who or what you are talking about,
I understand