Fallout Fan Takes On Bethesda's Lawyers

[Sakash]

I wonder what the fallout of this case will be.

*slow clap*
Bravo my friend, i actually chuckled at that

 

[Folji]

Well if that's enough to make Bethesda's legal department (a group seemingly disconnected from both the parent company and the rest of the world in general) throwing fits and filing suits, I wonder what they'd do if they discover all the other fan work of their franchises spread around the web.

 

[Cale Lively]

this is actually a very interesting case and proves how far fair use has fallen with in the US. Honestly making fan art i believe falls under fair use doctrine (as long as your not selling it). However recently it seems many industries are attacking fair use. from SOPA to CIPSA major industries seem to be taking a strike at fair use and the very fans that make them successful. Its a scary future where nerd/geek culture can not thrive and grow these titles to the point where they are supper successful. Irony is a funny thing.

 

[Krantos]

Is he PROFITING from the site? If yes, my inexpert opinion says he's going to get smacked.

I mean, "Fallout-inspired" is one thing. That one pic has freaking Vault Boy. You cannot tell me Vault Boy is not copyright protected.

 

[mental_looney]

While bethesda may seem like dicks the dudes post on reddit goes into alot more detail and the posters he created are basically the ones in game without the damage/aging so if it's fair use or not will depend more on the content not if he selling it which even if it's free still may be judged to not be fair use.

The firm they use is DLA piper so they probably have lots of lawyers to throw at them sending out hundreds of letters a month that we hear nothing about, as they are paid by bethesda to defend their trademarks which is mainly sending lots of cease and desist letters to anything close to their trademarks.

 

[Zayle79]

The article isn't very clear. Was he selling the posters? If he wasn't, then what possible reason could Bethesda have for suing him? That's pretty much like Bethesda suing FanFiction.net for using copyrighted Bethesda franchises.

I'm thinking he needs to just counter-sue for everything Bethesda owns. That's how lawsuits work, right? Makes at least as much sense as their suing him for fanart, assuming he wasn't selling it.

 

[rishnarr]

I don't think fair use comes into play here at all. Fair use is what lets Wikipedia use copyrighted images for informative reasons. This guy is giving away print quality versions of posters that are copies of ones from fallout, so he is damaging Bethesda's ability to sell copies of their artwork. So basically what he is doing is piracy.

 

[ThatGuy]

I don't think fair use comes into play here at all. Fair use is what lets Wikipedia use copyrighted images for informative reasons. This guy is giving away print quality versions of posters that are copies of ones from fallout, so he is damaging Bethesda's ability to sell copies of their artwork. So basically what he is doing is piracy.

Yup, agreed.

 

[Khravv]

I just don't understand what is gained by suing a fan of your series. It isn't like he is trying to subvert them, steal their trademark from underneath him. He is a fan, showing his love of the brand.
Reminds me of how THQ cease and desisted a really AWESOME fan made free-to-play WH40K UT3 indie game just because "Space Marine" was coming out the next year. End result was a bunch of fans getting really upset. Though in that case, I guess it kind of makes since, because in hindsight... that fan-made game would have been a thousand times better than what they made.

 

[Dastardly]

While it's certainly impressive that Andersen played the law card in a manner almost as impressive as Bethesda's lawyers, what's a little sketchy is how Andersen suggested that Bethesda would've gotten a better response had it sent him some Fallout swag first before siccing its lawyers on him. Making things even more awkward is how Andersen decries Bethesda's method of protecting its trademarks almost within the same breath as stating he understands the reasoning behind sending him a cease and desist in the first place.

He needs to keep his argument on topic. If he's contesting whether or not his site contained infringing content, he needs to keep on that track. If he's simply telling Bethesda they should ask nicely before suing, then he needs to just say that (and probably stay out of court, as this would be an implied agreement that the content was infringing). If he just wants free stuff... well... tough luck.

I appreciation the guy's gumption, but he's up against lawyers. If you don't mind your P's and Q's, they'll choke you with them.

 

[Craorach]

I've mentioned this already in other threads about this topic...

The owner of a copywright is required, by law, to defend it against ANY AND ALL POSSIBLE infringements.

They ignore this, and someone comes along next month and sells even more accurate reproductions for cash... suddenly, that person can use this case as a defense "you didn't defend against that, so you can't against me!".

 

[Pyro Paul]

He already admits to copy-right infrignement on the posters...

The point that he is arguing over is the domain name 'Fallout posters' as he feels that the word 'fallout' can not be copyrighted and thus isn't subject to their orginal CnD order. However, the flaw in his argument is that the context used for his site is purely for the purpouse of obtaining traffic because of the word 'fallout' and its direct assosiation to the game of the same name...

If it was 'Fallout posters' and there where litterally posters to show the fallout footprints of nuclear explosions on maps or something of the scientific nature then he would have an argument...

 

[ivc392]

The posters have been taken down, I just checked...

 

[A Pious Cultist]

Seriously Bethesda? Come on, please stop this nonsense. You're one of very few companies left within the industry to whom fans still generally bear good will. This legal nonsense (which is the only kind of nonsense we ever seem to hear associated with you ("Scrolls" anyone?)) reflects very poorly on you. Infringing copyright and making money off your IP is one thing, hosting some fan-art is not even remotely close.

Grow up, tuck your shirt in and get on with my Skyrim expansion, you will be forgiven.

Bethesda Softworks is a publisher and not the same as Bethesda Game Studios. I'm quite sure Todd Howard doesn't give a crap.

 

[doublenix]

Good for him for standing up and countering instead of tucking tail. I hope he gets them to back down. Someone buy this guy a beer already.

 

[Loonyyy]

"I want your game but I dont want to give you money for it!"

Sounds like a pirates mentality to me.

Sounds like a strawman to me. You can refuse to buy a game without being a pirate, or anything of the sort. That's kind of the entire principle of a boycott.

 

[BaronIveagh]

Could be any kind of reason behind this, but my guess it's either:
1. Protecting the Fallout IP. If the website and service is "too good", consumers may confuse it with say, an official product by Bethesda.

Yes, but 'too good' is not grounds for claiming confusion, since it says right on the site 'not affiliated with'.

2. Protection of the original artists' work. Let's say the artist working for Bethesda has signed a licensing agreement that the artwork will only be used within the game or for any future printed products by bethesda. What if the work was outsourced to someone not directly working within Bethesda? The problem arises when someone is distributing these artworks outside of their original context in high resolution without giving any sort of credit.

The problem is that quite a bit of the art in question is borderline derivative work itself. Bethesda is going to have problems on this front as much of what was show, other than Vault Boy, were largely derived from 1920's, 30's and 40's Propaganda and advertising.

The Sunset Sasparilla one is based off a caricature of Eugene Sandow, IIRC, the Spy one from a Soviet anti-drinking campaign (where instead of the filing cabinet he has an open coat with bottles in it, LOL), the addition of Vault Boy is the ONLY difference between the safety poster and the one my grandfather took home from Sharon Steel in the 50's and hung in his tool room. The Posidon one is the only one shown that I couldn't find a VERY similar poster somewhere.