The upshot is that since nobody knows whether they own it or not there is nobody bothering to actively enforce copyright, so you can just download the games for free if you want on NOLFrevival.
If you make a good effort to identify, locate, and contact copyright holders, but the path runs cold, can you disregard copyright? Maybe by claiming fair use or lack of traceable copyright?
Trademark requires active use. I don’t believe there’s such a thing for copyright. Are there limits other than regular fair use and documented year expiration?
No. You don’t get to just decide you have the right to use someone else’s work just because you coudn’t find them to ask, any more than you get to decide that you can use their car. Them not actively selling their works isn’t the equivalent of leaving the car derilict on public property.
That’s a good question though. What happens if a right’s holder dies and doesn’t transfer the rights to others? Are the rights then public domain or what?
I guess that depends on where you are in the world, but I’d imagine that the rights would be inherited by the closest family member? If not, it would probably go to the public domain.
It may depend on the country and state, but with a lack of heirs, it likely goes to the state like all other possessions. I’m no expert on this, though.
Sony (Horizon vs Light of Motiram) and Nintendo (Pokemon vs Palword), man. They really hurt the gaming industries freedom. Now we just need Microsoft (Blizzard) to sue Marvel Rivals for copying Overwatch in some form, then the Triforce is complete.
Tencent's Arena Breakout is very similar to Tarkov. Like, watching it, you'd just think tarkov got a bit of an update. They don't really care about IP unless it's their own.
You not being able to tell the difference in screenshots is not an infringement. These are two different games, that look similar and play similar. Its totally fine to do this. It’s sad that companies and even some players (like you) do not want that. Doing something similar should be okay.
Imagine cars couldn’t look the same, or websites couldn’t look the same or couldn’t be structured the same. Or imagine every music you listen to has to be vastly different from anything else. This stifles creativity and competition. Otherwise no one can improve on existing games.
As long as nothing directly is stolen, like the exact art, program code or whatever copyright is, it’s okay. I want more of the “same”, from more devs, more competition. I want more Pokemon, more Horizon, more Overwatch and I’m not even joking.
This one is pretty clear. Tencent is saying that Sony is trying to copyright an entire genre, like sci fi.
In reality it’s more like if Sony made Star wars, and tencent made the star of death with the jidoos with lasersabres. Tencent is just trying to say “how dare you trying to copyright sci fi!”
It’s not copyright, it’s trademark. Sony isn’t claiming they’re the same characters, they’re claiming that the style is so similar that people would mistakenly believe that Light of Motiram is actually a Horizon game, which is why this case is so stupid; it is a blatant ripoff, but ripoffs aren’t illegal, and no one is going to actually mix them up.
Why wouldn’t they? I’m all for the fuck Sony train when they fuck up (like when they pushed PSN onto PC users and then blocked the sale of their games in countries that aren’t supported by PSN) but in this case Tencent is/was blatantly copying the Horizon IP.
It’s not copying it, it’s ripping it off, which isn’t illegal. Copying (i.e. copyright infringement) has a specific legal meaning, and it’s not being asserted by Sony. Sony is trying to claim that it being a ripoff means customers would be confused into believing it’s actually a Horizon game and purchasing it in error, which is stupid.
If Tencent had called this Horizons: Motiram, they’d be 100% in the right. But they are just trying to essentially claim they own the combination of style and theme of “colorful world with tribal humans vs robot animals”. That’s not how trademark works (this is trademark btw, not copyright, just in case anyone is getting them mixed up).
That was a random image from the trailer. You can stop the trailer at a random point and there’s like 90% chance you’re going to end up with an image that could easily be from the Horizon series. It’s also worth pointing out that the trailer has been removed from all official Lights of Motiram accounts along with a dozen images that looked like they were from the Horizon series.
I will also remind you that you said it would be absurd to take Sony seriously, which is not the same thing as stating “there’s no trademark violations here”. The latter is literally what the court has to make a decision on. The former is about whether there’s any basis to go to court which already means you think you know better than Sony lawyers and, if the court doesn’t instantly throw out the case, also better than the legal system. Maybe you are some godlike lawyer who knows better than everyone else, but if you are I think you can understand why I’m calling bullshit on that.
I will also remind you that you said it would be absurd to take Sony seriously, which is not the same thing as stating “there’s no trademark violations here”. The latter is literally what the court has to make a decision on. The former is about whether there’s any basis to go to court which already means you think you know better than Sony lawyers and, if the court doesn’t instantly throw out the case, also better than the legal system. Maybe you are some godlike lawyer who knows better than everyone else, but if you are I think you can understand why I’m calling bullshit on that.
I was/am responding to something you said in your comment, specifically that they were copying HZD.
I think it’s entirely possible that Sony wins, though they shouldn’t. But it will be about whether this constitutes an infringement on Sony’s Horizon trademark, not copyright. I don’t think it does, and I do think this amounts to Sony wanting to own the concept, like Nintendo wants to own creature catchers, but it is obviously possible another court would make another bad ruling in the IP space, especially if that means siding with the non-Chinese corporation.
But there’s no question about them copying the Horizon series. Whether they’re doing it as an IP infringement is up for the courts to decide. I also disagree with the Nintendo comparison because what Nintendo is doing far worse. Even though Nintendo is doing things in response to Palworld they’re trying to patent a rather generic mechanics, like summonings or calling mounts (in a specific way) which means their actions won’t just affect Palworld but also Cassette Beasts and maybe even Monster Hunter Stories.
Meanwhile Sony want to make sure someone isn’t making a not Horizon game. I can’t even make a realistic comparison to what couldn’t exist if Sony wins because I can’t think of another game that that slots exactly into what Horizon is. Fighting against robots is generic, ARC raiders does that. Tribals vs high tech is also pretty generic, that’s essentially Avatar. Post-apocalyptic worlds are also generic and you’d have to narrow it down to get specifically Horizon style post-apocalyptic which itself is also not unique as that’s essentially the same style The Last of Us uses (just to give the first example that came to mind). It’s only after you take all those individual generic components and mash them together do you get Horizon, and the original reveal of Light of Motiram.
Look at this from the other perspective. Why does Light of Motiram need the same kind of tribal aesthetic like the Horizon games? Why does Light of Motiram need robot enemies that imitate animals like Horizon games down to the same visual style of robots? Why does Light of Motiram need the same post-apocalyptic world like the Horizon games down to the same color palette? Each of those things are rather generic concepts and Light of Motiram could’ve made their own interpretation of each of those concepts. It could’ve been Na’Vi tribals fighting ARC robots in an TLOU world, but instead in those instances it chose to do exactly what Horizon does.
I cant remember what the letdown actually was that you got but getting cryptoscammed woud be even worse in any case, so thank goodness time traveling isn’t possible.
The “win” was to become the first god king in his next actual game, which let players compete/pay in a shared world for nobility/etc. The hook was that if you were god king, you got a cut of the money the game made.
That game was never released with the above feature, and they entirely ignored the “cube” game winner for years after the initial PR blitz. He got nothing at all besides some merch and a trip to their office. Eurogamer wrote a great piece about it years ago.
He did some revolutionary things back then, Populous, Dungeon Keeper, Theme Park and Black & White were truly great games.
I would say those earlier games were influental to the whole industry, but only if Molyneux dropped dead around 2012. He missed the chance to remembered as a legend by living too long to become the arse of the joke.
Oh man. Roberta Williams well and truly is a veritable legend in the field. Mad respect for her. I hope she gets enough to get treatment (though I hate that she has to)
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