Copyright Infringement

Supreme Cmdr · July 22, 2000

This was just brought to my attention. Does anyone know who this fool is? Its the weekend but by next week, if he doesn't remove that crap from his site, he'll be in for a world of hurt.

Imagine that cheeky sod, not only using GALCOM, but blatantly ripping parts of the charter, using Centris etc

http://scout.to/GC

July 22, 2000

Looking closer, I think this fool has infringed copyrights from several franchises. I see the acronym GDI, which IIRC, is used in Command & Conquer. Obvious references and photographs from Star Trek are evident, as well as the BC3K rip-offs.

Gallion · July 22, 2000

Nail the twit to the wall SC. Just make sure that you do not leave a shirt on his/her back either when ye get done with the individual.

TTFN

[This message has been edited by Gallion (edited 07-22-2000).]

Eclipse · July 22, 2000

Might be some 14 year old who thought it shounded like a cool idea for a new clan. They appear to play a couple Star Trek games, so I can understand the ST referances. But do nab the guy, theyhave to learn.

------------------

Cmdr. Antilles

Spectre Fleet

Spectre Starstation

ICV- Eclipse

Chief Security Officer

Learning is not compulsory... Neither is survival.

Ben Somerset · July 22, 2000

Hmmm...this looks like some pretty flagrant copyright violations to me. I agree with Gallion, if the infringing info isn't removed in quick order, nail him to the wall. Not exactly a nice thing to do, but sometimes you've got to protect what rightfully belongs to you. This is one of them, unfortunately.

------------------

Cmdr. Benjamin Somerset

GCV Swiftsure

*1st Squadron, *SIN Wing

Stationed, *Starstation Wrath

"I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go into harm's way." - John Paul Jones

ICQ 32545391, CST

=TDY Wraith Fleet=

Dragon - Order of the Jade Dragon

Prime Fleet Liason Officer

July 22, 2000

Oh...my...God!

SC, I know this person!

He came up to me when he was making the site! I warned him to try to make his own thing, rather than copying from you, but he said that it wouldn't matter, that he's just a small scale site and that you wouldn't notice!

SC, I apologise on behalf of him. He didn't mean any harm. I'll tell him to remove it ASAP. He's only a fifteen year old boy, he doesn't want any trouble, alright? I promise, I'll do everything I can to get him to take it down!

Again, I apologise deeply on his behalf.

[This message has been edited by Commander Hamblin (edited 07-22-2000).]

Supreme Cmdr · July 22, 2000

Fair enough.

July 24, 2000

Now hold it right there, I don't see any Copyright symbols by GALCOM. Galactic Command (or GALCOM) is not a registered trademark, and is a somewhat widely used term in the sci-fi genre.

Andy means no harm by using it for our fleet, and I see no reason for you to trouble yourselves to do anything about it. We're not hurting you or Battlecruiser in any way at all. The term Galactic Command does not have to be exclusively used by Battlecruiser for it to maintain its effectiveness.

If I were a Battlecruiser player, would I care whether term Galactic Command was describing a Star Trek fleet? NO! I wouldn't give a damn about it.

As for the other 'rip-offs' stated, we are a Star Trek fleet and we use Star Trek ranks (pictures used with permission). The other acronyms (GDI), were coincedentally used.

Cadet GordonF (GC)

GCS Alameda

Akira · July 24, 2000

Thanks Gordan for that insightful post. Please allow me to make a couple of points:

If Derek Smart claims to have the Copyright on "Galactic Command" or "GALCOM" (a term you also use), then I'm sure he has the Copyright.

For instance, all sights referencing BC3000:AD material are required to include copyright info on the same site:

quote:

Now, add that to the fact that there is not, nor has there EVER been, a GALCOM or Galactic Command referenced or existing in the Star Trek universe. That means you had to find that term somewhere.

Combine that with Hamblin's admittance to the site's creator KNOWING that the term came from this GAME/SITE, it is clear that ANDY should at least have gotten permission before STEALING the term.

Youth does not mean you have permission to do whatever you whant with other's ideas.

I strongly suggest that ANDY use a little imagination and come up with a new idea for your fleet.

As I'm sure you'll find (providing you don't make changes) Derek Smart is VERY protective of his product.

Perhaps next time you or your friends will atempt to do the right thing and ASK FOR PERMISSION before using something that is not yours to use.

If you think that you have the right to use copyrighted material, I suggest you start a X-files site, or use beeny-babies as your group's name. You will soon find letters from attournies in your mailbox; and, more likely than not, your ISP will terminate your account.

Again, I for one appreciate your comments. They reassure me that the future of this country will be controlled by Socialist Democrats intent on making everything free to everyone AAAAHHHH, the future is SO Bright, i've just gotta wear shades!

P.S., these comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of this site's owner or that of 3000AD, Inc.

Have a nice day

------------------

Flt. Cmdr. Akira

Spectre

ICV-Nevermore

Official Tester

Battlecruiser Series

[This message has been edited by Akira (edited 07-23-2000).]

July 24, 2000

quote:

I don't see any Copyright symbols by GALCOM

Just so you are aware, one doesn't need a copyright symbol next to one's copyright.

So, I recommend a tad bit of originality and a tall amount of redesigning that site. You may want to tell "Andy" that's the smart play. After all, according to Hamblin, he knew the BC3K had coined the term, rather than it being a widely used acronym in the sci-fi genre.

Ben Somerset · July 24, 2000

I for one would like to second Akira and Mike's posts.

Gordon:

quote:

If I were a Battlecruiser player, would I care whether term Galactic Command was describing a Star Trek fleet? NO! I wouldn't give a damn about it.

Of course you wouldn't. But then you are also not the SC, or one of the people who put their lives, hearts, and money into this game either. They love this game, and they love making it for us fans to enjoy, but that will not put food on their table. If I had made a product, copyrighted it, and found some making a product with the same name on it, I'd be rightfully mad as well. As Akira quite rightly stated, try and make a website with the word "Microsoft" in the URL. You'll find a number of attorney's breathing down your neck before you can put the first page of it up. Even though Bill Gates is the richest man in the world, he still wants to protect that which belongs to him. The SC only wishes to do the same. You should remind Andy, and yourself, that even if being "inventive" stealing is still stealing.

The aforementioned remarks are only my opinion, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of this website, or that of 3000AD, Inc.

------------------

Cmdr. Benjamin Somerset

GCV Swiftsure

*1st Squadron, *SIN Wing

Stationed, *Starstation Wrath

"I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go into harm's way." - John Paul Jones

ICQ 32545391, CST

=TDY Wraith Fleet=

Dragon - Order of the Jade Dragon

Prime Fleet Liason Officer

July 24, 2000

We're not making a product at all!

Your comments regarding the hard work and dedication, while touching, are irrelevant. We are not making a game or anything that would make us money. It does not hurt a commercial organization like yourself to allow a non-profit group of players to use the name Galactic Command in our little gaming world.

As for your remarks about putting Microsoft in a url, I refer you to the case of aolsucks.com.

Cadet GordonF

GCS Alameda

July 24, 2000

quote:

Your comments regarding the hard work and dedication, while touching, are irrelevant.

Who cares about what you perceive as relevant? The issue here is a copyright in which you are in violation of. It's as simple as that. So, remove the infringing items from the site and be done with it. As far as I'm concerned, the issue's closed.

One more post defending copyright infringement, and I'm going to help you to the airlock, i.e. ban you from the site.

Note: My comments don't represent 3000AD, Inc. Except for the airlock part.

[This message has been edited by aramike01 (edited 07-24-2000).]

July 24, 2000

3000AD, I apologize for the usage of the term GALCOM in our site, but GALCOM is merely an acronym for Galactic Command, the name of the 'ruling body' of our fleet (clan).

I have examined the legal information in your manual, and found the term GALCOM copyrighted. Upon review of copyright laws, I determined that GALCOM is not covered under copyright laws, because it is not a work or compilation, etc. The paragraph states that the symbols are either copyrighted or are registered trademarks. Following a search through the trademark database, I discovered that GALCOM is NOT a registered trademark.

I strongly urge you not to push charges against us. Our fleet bids you people no harm. We are a private, non-profit organization that simply uses the term Galactic Command to describe the organization of our clan. A commercial business like yourself has no need to worry about the activities of us.

In my humble opinion, your time and resources would be better spent working on the matters of the game, than chasing down innocent players who simply think the term Galactic Command sounds cool.

I request that you reconsider your decision about us.

(p.s.: As far as I know, forumns are for free discussion of topics. Aramike, banning a person on account of what they say is damn near ignorant, because it closes you out from an entire side of the story.)

Cadet GordonF

GCS Alameda

July 24, 2000

The following is an exerpt of the general provisions of copyright law, taken from www.loc.gov/copyright/

quote:

WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?

Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of ÔÇ£original works of authorship,ÔÇØ including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:

To reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords;

To prepare derivative works based upon the work

;

To distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;

To perform the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works;

To display the copyrighted work publicly

, in the case of

literary

, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works,

including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work

; and

In the case of sound recordings, to perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.

The bold-print areas are the one's which seem to apply. Primarily the first one. As far as I'm aware, the contents of the game are copyrighted material. There is quite a large amount of storied text on the site that can be considered to be derived from the copyright-protected Battlecruiser franchise, not to mention that, according to Hamblin, this guy Andy had admittedly done so.

You're right when it comes to simply "GALCOM". However, the amount of derivative information otherwise and including changes matters somewhat. The only point of contention would then be the basis clause, which is widely opened to legal interpretation, I would imagine.

The next issue:

quote:

As far as I know, forumns are for free discussion of topics. Aramike, banning a person on account of what they say is damn near ignorant, because it closes you out from an entire side of the story.

Sorry, this is a private forum. And frankly, legal matters pertaining to 3000AD, Inc. should probably be discussed privately. The members of this forum are not employees of 3000AD, Inc. As far as I'm am able to discern, Dr. Smart opened this thread seeking information, not a means to discuss interpretations of copyright law.

As warned, I'm revoking your posting abilities until this matter has been resolved and Dr. Smart gives the okay for your return.

Disclaimer: The views expressed are not necessarily that of 3000AD, Inc., nor the persons represented by, representing, with interests, employees, and liables of 3000AD Inc.

[This message has been edited by aramike01 (edited 07-24-2000).]

July 24, 2000

Look, I'm really sorry that this has happened. I'm trying to get Andy to talk to me, but he's not responding.

Because I really don't have the time, the inclination, nor the stress-free life that would be required to get involved in this, I'm simply going to just stand aside.

So, I wash my hands of this whole thing. If it necessitates, the log of the ICQ conversation Andy and myself had when he came to me is available for review. Just e-mail me at [email protected] for it.

But, other than that, I really don't want to get in the middle of this.

[This message has been edited by Commander Hamblin (edited 07-24-2000).]

Supreme Cmdr · July 24, 2000

This fool is confusing trademarks with copyrights. Since he thinks he knows so much about intellectual property, lets see how he likes his entire site taken down.

The disregard for other people's property is exactly why governments are trying hard to police the Internet. And its people like this who are the cause. He obviously has the manual and knows about the game. I have an archived copy of his site and you can easily, apart from the GALCOM usage, see that he even based his mission statement from my own. And the cheeky git wants to challenge me? I like a good challenge, but I usually warn people first.

I'm giving him 24 hrs to remove any and all such infringements from his site or not only will have that site taken down, if I have to turn it over to my attorney, who will then obtain his information from his ISP, he will be liable for the legal expense - because once the ISP takes the site down, it means that the information did infringe. I think he needs to read the TOC of his ISP carefully.

That is all I have to say about the matter.

July 24, 2000

Im not knowlegable about laws and legalish stuff.

That the word Galcom may have popped up as an acronym without that person ever knowing about BC3K..its possible. But to use Galcom AND the Centris name and other BC3K stuff in there just screams that this person knows bc3k and has purposely used those terms in his own work.

All I can tell this kid is to avoid trouble and come up with 3 new names for his stuff. I mean, is it that hard to get a name for a space region or a galactic organization?

BTW, nice site design

Eclipse · July 24, 2000

I think everyone else has prettymuch covered everything. Come, on though how hard is it to change a few words and rewrite a charter? It'll go alot smoother in the long run to just change it than get involved in a big legal mess you don't have a good chance of winning.

------------------

Cmdr. Antilles

Spectre Fleet

Spectre Starstation

ICV- Eclipse

Chief Security Officer

Learning is not compulsory... Neither is survival.

Akuma Minako · July 24, 2000

Rather than incriminating yourself further sir GC I suggest that you just do what Derrik Smart says.

If you're fifteen I'm sure your parents won't be too pleased to have the law on them for your actions.

We're not trying to be cruel or uncaring but Derrik's had a hard time with things like this already that it isn't fair to him.

I understand that your fleet is important but perhaps you could use somthing more original. Originality always wins the majority! You get admiration for that.

I don't really know much but I do know that your arguments are getting you nowhere. It'd only be fair for you and Derrik if you dropped this and came up with somthing original.

Just my two cents.

------------------

AKUMA MINAKO

ORION FLEET

GCV- TENCHI

DETERRENCE BATTLE GROUP

www.orion-hq.fsnet.co.uk

"War is the plague of Mankind, created by Mankind."

July 24, 2000

Who's this "Derrik" guy? Sounds like copyright infringment to me...

Eclipse · July 25, 2000

LOL tac.... you just have to bring up spelling errors

------------------

Cmdr. Antilles

Spectre Fleet

Spectre Starstation

ICV- Eclipse

Chief Security Officer

Learning is not compulsory... Neither is survival.

Supreme Cmdr · July 25, 2000

Andy has contacted me and apologized for his mistakes.

As I said to him, I'm not particularly angry that he ripped my stuff. I was angry because he didn't ask my permission, nor did he give any credit for the work (the site itself seems to claim that its his own stuff, which is false) or even mention the game (though on ICQ, he said he owns a copy). There are over 28 BC3K websites on the webring and they use my stuff. I didn't go after them. Why? Because they have my permission to use any material they wish.

Further, its not like he even used my stuff for promoting or supporting the game. There is no mention of BC3K on the site. And the ST universe doesn't even support my premise.

Anyway, I'm going to send him email with what to do and that'll be the end of that I think.

btw, he also apologizes for his friend, who has been trying to stiffle this uprising.

So, lets all calm down, shall we?

Parias · July 25, 2000

quote:

So, lets all calm down, shall we?

Aye to that! Lets all settle down for milk and cook-

*Glances behind him and notices the retreating forms of a squad of radioactive garden gnomes making off with his food*

Erm.... yeah.

------------------

Cmdr. Parias

Spectre Fleet

Chief Engineer, Starstation Destiny

ICV-Galatae

ICQ:1293359

Staff member at HardNews

"Next time you're passing by and feel like dropping in, keep passing by untill you get to a river, and THEN drop in." -Jake Logan

July 25, 2000

Per my earlier post, now that this issue has been resolved, I'm restoring GC_GordonF's posting abilities.

[This message has been edited by aramike01 (edited 07-25-2000).]

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