Fallout Fan Takes On Bethesda's Lawyers

[DugMachine]

Well if he's selling these posters they have every right to sue him. But if he does this for shits n giggles and just an art gallery as somebody above said, then yes, Bethesda lawyers are being absolute pricks in this case.

 

[newwiseman]

Looks like open and shut fair use as far as the DMCA is concerned, however the DMCA only applies to US citizens using US copyrighted works in the US (I'm not sure where this guy is) but if the MegaUpload case means anything it's that all .com addresses are apperantly US domain so the argument for fair use can be used.

Really Anderson just needs to keep his mouth shut and he'll win easy.

 

[Baneat]

Imagine Hasbro starting going off MLP fanworks - they'd never hear the end of it.

Oh - and BREAKING NEWS: Valve begins legal assault on physicists and biologists over the use of the term "half-life" and their use of the lambda relating to such. Plans to sue the ancient greeks are underway.

 

[Stealthfighterx]

They have an automated system which scans these sites and send these letters to possible copyright infringers, this is more of an accident than anything.

 

[Strazdas]

Bethesda, i am dissapoint. Your whole company is runing on fandom. the reason your games got so popular was the fan made alterations. why you shoot yourself in the foot?

 

[Gingernerd]

Come on. It is just fanart and parody. Now maybe there are a few subtleties to the issue, but i don't see how this is significant different to the millions of other works of fanart lying around on the net that "infringe" on the original work.

 

[Farther than stars]

I just wanted to say that I find this news article rather well written. Especially the third paragraph was very striking in my opinion. And if I were to extend that opinion, I would say that Paul Goodman will go very far in his chosen field.

 

[Aprilgold]

Yea I am not seeing the issue here. He was doing something illegal so they sent him a cease and desist letter. He then freaks out and starts acting like a little child.

Except for he wasn't selling them, so he is protected by law. Its more like Bethesda saw that someone was allowing people to download their pictures for free [he actually recreated them, didn't rip them from the game, so still protected] over the fact that he was doing fan work.

Last time I checked you can't sue for fan work.

They have an automated system which scans these sites and send these letters to possible copyright infringers, this is more of an accident than anything.

Then more then this site would be recieving news coverage if that is the case. Theres a lawsuit floating about which a robot wouldn't be allowed to do due to mistakes made if this is one.

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Same thing I said above, Bethesda's lawyers are very bad at their jobs, and don't understand any law except copyright ones.

 

[DigitalSushi]

The next evolutionary step for Bethesda in how they treat their game fans, just have lawyers at any expo gates handing out cease and desist letters to really good cosplayers.

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

We've been down this route before. Everyone makes it look like the Bethesda lawyers are just taking the piss out of a situation that, on paper, looks completely reasonable. When they did this shit with Mojang, everybody overlooked the simple fact that the laws regarding trademarks required Bethesda to take legal action else they lose the Elder Scrolls trademark rights in any future case.

Bethesda isn't some trademark whore, desperately looking to find people to sue or some such shit. They wouldn't take legal action unless it was necessary.

So, no. I don't believe we've been told the whole story. Any copyright issue requiring legal action is never black and white.

 

[Aprilgold]

Yea I am not seeing the issue here. He was doing something illegal so they sent him a cease and desist letter. He then freaks out and starts acting like a little child.

Except for he wasn't selling them, so he is protected by law. Its more like Bethesda saw that someone was allowing people to download their pictures for free [he actually recreated them, didn't rip them from the game, so still protected] over the fact that he was doing fan work.

Last time I checked you can't sue for fan work.

If it is close enough to the original its considered copyright infringement, something that is illegal. Wether or not he is selling something has absolutely nothing at all to do with this. It also doesnt matter if he straight up stole them from the game or drew identical pictures on his own.

Their not identical due to they look better. I'm not saying that as a opinion thing, their drew to be the original poster in their glory, not to be all blown up.

Why not just sue cosplayers because they made a costume identical to a Khajiit or some shit. Why not because they didn't take it from the game but made the exact same thing from the game and therefore are liable for being sued.

The cosplayer is relatable to the dude who made fan work of posters because they are both for the same thing, for people to enjoy.

 

[Preacher zer0]

He may not be making a profit off it... but Beth obviously think they can, the part of all this that annoys me is them demanding he hand over control of the site.

 

[Braedan]

Wow, the guy doesn't even have a donate button. Beth publishing is dicks. Most people beg for donations 3 or 4 times per webpage, and I can't even see one try here.

I'm pretty sure some humorous posters for free will promote the Fallout brand, not hurt it...

 

[Aprilgold]

Their not identical due to they look better. I'm not saying that as a opinion thing, their drew to be the original poster in their glory, not to be all blown up.

Why not just sue cosplayers because they made a costume identical to a Khajiit or some shit. Why not because they didn't take it from the game but made the exact same thing from the game and therefore are liable for being sued.

The cosplayer is relatable to the dude who made fan work of posters because they are both for the same thing, for people to enjoy.

You can spout that nonsense all you want but at the end of the day the law still disagrees with you.

Cosplaying is also nowhere near the same thing.

Hold on while I pull out the law of fair use real fast.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use

Yes, a cosplayer is at the same fault as the man who did a fan work of Bethesda's posters, which is none at all. From what I remember, its essentially that if your not making money, you can not be pursued for legal action. While the posters are borderline, it is not distributing material made by Bethesda so he is not at fault. If he took the posters from the game and let people download them for free, then he could be sued.

According to you, every single parody is liable for a lawsuit.

 

[FoolKiller]

Not buying a game and boycotting the company doesn't make you like a pirate, but only buying used because you don't like the company makes you like one though.

I disagree. That's like saying that my choice to sleep with Jewish women but never consider marrying them makes me like a Nazi.