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01-17-2014, 12:41 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-01-2022, 01:02 AM by Fearless Community.
Edit Reason: Checked Encoding
)
The better question is it actually possible to copyright such content?
Firstly it is possible to copyright logos and such forth as FL has done.
The issue really is whether the code for the vehicles amount to such a sufficient novel alteration of the original to warrant copyrighting.
If I was to take the case before a court I would argue either from the grounds of parody, that the work is in the public domain, or depending on what the actual case was, that the original copyright rests with the developers of facepunch studios/valve as Garrys mod is a work of theirs.
In short given that garrys mod is an easily accessible game sufficiently in the public domain, i'd argue that the copyright laws cannot be applied to such things as vehicles or mods by individual communities but rather the originator of the game.
An entirely different question is whether using certain trademarks infringes on copyrights of established companies. Which as a videogame is a source of entertainment and can be argued to be a parody, and considering that in no way are these trademarks used to fund or garner sales. I'd argue that no they do not.
In summary it doesn't matter if anyone has copyright of the vehicles themselves, most of the mods are covered by valves copyright of the source engine and code used to generate them, the mod would need to be sufficiently novel and unique to be copyrighted. This doesn't mean FL content is not protected by the terms of service however, and FL itself as an entity is copyrighted and legally so.
Hope that helps.
If you have further questions take a look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons_license
http://www.garrysmod.com/terms/
Firstly it is possible to copyright logos and such forth as FL has done.
The issue really is whether the code for the vehicles amount to such a sufficient novel alteration of the original to warrant copyrighting.
If I was to take the case before a court I would argue either from the grounds of parody, that the work is in the public domain, or depending on what the actual case was, that the original copyright rests with the developers of facepunch studios/valve as Garrys mod is a work of theirs.
In short given that garrys mod is an easily accessible game sufficiently in the public domain, i'd argue that the copyright laws cannot be applied to such things as vehicles or mods by individual communities but rather the originator of the game.
An entirely different question is whether using certain trademarks infringes on copyrights of established companies. Which as a videogame is a source of entertainment and can be argued to be a parody, and considering that in no way are these trademarks used to fund or garner sales. I'd argue that no they do not.
In summary it doesn't matter if anyone has copyright of the vehicles themselves, most of the mods are covered by valves copyright of the source engine and code used to generate them, the mod would need to be sufficiently novel and unique to be copyrighted. This doesn't mean FL content is not protected by the terms of service however, and FL itself as an entity is copyrighted and legally so.
Hope that helps.
If you have further questions take a look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons_license
http://www.garrysmod.com/terms/