Copyright

ZVitor

Active member
Well, i just removed MK links from my site, btw, this is the copyright email text which i received:

ENGLISH – NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

Dear Sir or Madam:

We are writing on behalf of the Entertainment Software Association ("ESA"), a U.S. trade association that represents the interests of the leading publishers of interactive games for video game consoles, personal computers, handheld devices and the Internet. ESA member companies include, but are not limited to: 505 Games, Activision Publishing, Inc., Bethesda Softworks, Blizzard Entertainment, Capcom USA, Inc., Electronic Arts (EA), Epic Games, Inc., Konami Digital Entertainment, Microsoft Corporation, BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc., Nintendo of America Inc., SEGA of America, Inc., Sony Computer Entertainment America, Square Enix, Inc., Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., and Ubisoft Entertainment, Inc.

We are authorized to act on behalf of the ESA members identified above to protect their intellectual property rights in published works when such works are subject to copyright infringement. We are writing to notify you of the extensive infringement of ESA-member copyrights that we believe in good faith to be occurring by virtue of the operation of your website, zvitor.com.br ("Website").

During a recent review of the Website, we identified a large volume of links to download of unauthorized copies of video games, many of which are published by ESA members. Representative examples include:

Title: MORTAL KOMBAT
Publisher:  WARNER BROTHERS
Date Found: Jan. 13, 2021

Infringing Link(s): http://zvitor.com.br/projeto/MK.html



We request that you take immediate steps to remove from the Website all links to unauthorized copies of ESA-member content. There are legal provisions protecting this content in Brazil and the US, including the Brazilian Copyright and Software Laws (n.9.610/98 and n.9.609/98); the Brazilian Criminal Code (article 184), related to the copyright infringement Crime; and, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in the United States. The use, copy, storage, distribution, commercialization or any other form of usage of the content must be expressly authorized by the copyright owners according to the referred legal provisions. Please confirm receipt of this email and confirm when the removal of infringing content is complete.

We are providing this notice based on our good faith belief that the use of video game software owned by ESA member companies in the manner occurring on the Website is not authorized by the copyright owners, their agents, or the law. The information in this notification is accurate, based on public information legally available and under penalty of perjury, we are authorized to act on behalf of ESA’s member companies, which own or control exclusive rights under copyright that are being infringed in the manner described herein. By providing this notice, neither ESA nor its members waive any claims, rights or remedies. All such claims, rights and remedies are expressly reserved.

If you have any questions regarding this request, you may contact ESA at notice@theesa.com. Thank you for your cooperation and prompt response in this matter.

Sincerely,



Intellectual Property Enforcement

Entertainment Software Association (ESA)

601 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Suite 300

Washington, DC 20001

Tel: 202-223-2400

e-mail:  notice@theesa.com
 
I think you might want to contact them to bring up that stuff that your game is not merely an unauthorized copy.
 
Miru said:
I think you might want to contact them to bring up that stuff that your game is not merely an unauthorized copy.

Miru, that would be about the worst thing he could possibly do. The name itself and most of the assets are all protected intellectual property. Basically the owners are right for the wrong reasons. About the only thing challenging them would do is invite further scrutiny and potentially get a lot more projects shut down.

There's no winning this. It's the risk one takes when making fan games of a popular franchise. I just posted an explanation about how these things work. Maybe it will help.

DC
 
Damon Caskey said:
There's no winning this. It's the risk one takes when making fan games of a popular franchise.
yea, i did exactly what they asked, removed all links from my site, zvitor.com,
but it still hosted at gamejolt.... lets see if they ignore it.
 
is has been a common thing on nintendo from the begining of times, but why mk? in all the years mk have been out nobody at midway or the new netherrealm studios had ever care or enforced anything like this, makes no sense, there is like a millon mk fan games out there and many are more than a decade old.
 
Gurtag,

I couldn't say for sure, but AFAIK, none of the other Mortal Kombat modules were on Gamejolt. I'd guess that's what got the owner's attention.

DC
 
this is sad:(
i saw on maximilian dood channel that capcom is changing some of his policy copyrights, mostly about 3d assets and music usage on videos and live streams, but i hope they not start to affect us who use sprites from them.

https://youtu.be/h5QiOkWm5cY
 
ZVitor

That mod was very quality work too. ALL your mods are awesome! In the stimulus bill package that recently passed, Hollywood lobbyists had their hand in that bill. Whenever they pass a big omnibus-bill like that, they sneak in a lot of extra stuff. They passed the Case act and felony streaming act. Heard something about $30,000 per infringement in federal court. I don't understand legal things all that much. I immediately went to my youtube channel and deleted all the videos I ever made about video games. Gone forever! Thanks hollywood. I mean I PROBABLY would have been ok leaving videos about copyrighted games on there, but then who really knows?
 
ZVitor

i have dreaded this for years, when it comes to patents, there has been an established racket that makes money out of combing trough works & tech to try & extort money for years now.

for a good video-game example, look for the "crazy taxi radar" issue -

anyway, this really stinks , there is lots of good MK related content from modders out there.
i find it funny that, in online markets that i have visited, there is sales of ROMS, pirated carts & such by the millions - actual plain copies, no improvements, right there on facebook, twitter - & they get no notices at all...

fortunately  - i see that lots of people are trying to actually move away from the "corporate" web & start their own thing... 

there is lots of ways to get around this laws - & maybe hackers & modders should start creating a world-wide association to counter this upcoming crud-storm...
 
Damn! That's new! :O I hope the upcoming Openbor projects won't get any damage from these Copyright protection stuff. Would it change if the sprites are custom and not recycled assets from already existing games?
 
That terribly sucks, honestly i was planning to do a Mortal Kombat Openbor but it seems that Warner/Neatherrealm is paying attention. Weird since ZVitor's MK mod is not the first one to be ever created. I hope this copyright stuff doesn't mess with any other projects from the community.
 
Back
Top Bottom