14-12-2001 07:42									#91
	Re: WE HAVEN'T EVEN BEGUN TO FIGHT!!!! Suffering from ads?

quote: Originally posted by Sauron07 My initial thoughts were bolstered by one comment you made about the inclusion of game art and screenshots in the strat guides. The original game art IS copyrighted material, the question then becomes, does using it in an unauthorized strategy guide sold for profit constitute "fair use". I know that the game title cannot be copyrighted and references to the concepts and ideas within the game is also ok, the question arises as to whether infogames can prevent guides which do not utilize game art or screen captures from being published and I still am at a loss for any legal theory other than possibly interference with contract(unlikely) which would override the rights of individuals like yourselves to publish your original material regarding the game. Im tempted to create a website offering a civIII strat guide and send the link to infogames just so I can find out what their rationale is.

That might not really apply in this case anyway; I doubt Vel was planning too much in the way of images and art. I think he planned (contrary to standard game guides) to put actual content in there .

As far as interference with a contract goes, that sounds like the tactics CueCat used against people who had reverse-engineered their super l33+ scanners (using super-strength XOR encryption). Namely, I made a stupid business decision, and rather than admitting that, I'm going to use heavy-handed strongarm (the two kinda go together, I guess) tactics in a courtroom (not even in a courtroom, because it'd probably get thrown out if it ever got that far) to make up for my complete and total lack of business sense. The emperor has no clothes, but instead of putting some on, he's suing people so they stop pointing it out.