[Kazan]

I feel the need to post this in here as well so everyone sees it (in light of bobboau's flipping out)


A) Derek Smart does not yet hold the titles, i doubt he will be able to acquire them
B) The Source Code is Copyright of Volition, Inc -- not Interplay, Inc
C) Ferrium is Copyright 2004 Alliance Productions (me and my staff) and is no way has any Volition or Interplay Intellectual property in it


So he cannot close the projects even if he did acquire the rights - all he could do is prevent us from distributing any media files that were created by the artists/designers for FS2 - any community create file can be distributed.

This also prevents us from porting FS2 to Ferrium.


If he does acquire the rights and start acting like an arse we can easily say **** him and throw all resources into the game i'm designing to be native to Ferrium.


End Of Story.

[Stryke 9]

Pardon me if I'm mistaken, as I'm largely unfamiliar with IP law the way it keeps changing these days, but since you aren't a legally recognized head of the project and aren't, as far as I know, inextricably tied to it except in that you've listed yourself as project head, even if he tried to sue you couldn't you just say "oh, it's not actually mine, I'm just a director and thinktank type- it's [fill in member's name, preferably one overseas]'s!". Should he bother to reset his legal crosshairs on that other member, and deal with the accompanying national/international laws and courts and ****, that individual could then do the same. There's a lot more HLPers, and interested outsiders, than his limited funds could accomodate, and you could basically keep him running back and forth until he got tired or went bankrupt without ever having to engage him in any hypothetical legal battle at all. And, naturally, keep all the FS2-related stuff, since the whole license thing would never even have time to come up.

[Rictor]

Devious...I like your thinking.

Its good to have you back, though one does wonder about that and The Coming of The Smart. Quite a coincidence, no?

[Stryke 9]

Not really. I'm like Superman- when needed, I show up. Do you want to be Lois Lane?

There are people who like FreeSpace outside of this forum, you know- you're not the most socially capable lot, no offense, which was part of the reason I took a trip in the first place (the other part being that I was starting to be yet less socially capable online). One of them has kept me posted on new developments from time to time.
And, y'know, there's always the worry of a violent egomaniac gap, in which case I'd have to come support your side.

[Knight Templar]

I thought I was your Lois Lane?

[Stryke 9]

Yeah, but your Zod still has that rash all over it. This is for the meantime.


ANYWAY.

[Knight Templar]

My Zod? You mean Snipes?

[Sandwich]

Strykie-poo! Welcome back.

[Ace]

Originally posted by Knight Templar
My Zod? You mean Snipes?

Snipes is a Zug.

Zod is from the planet Houston

[Setekh]

The source code is what I was most concerned about. I still think there is plenty positive about Smart's action, though I am glad the SCP will persist no matter what the outcome of this particular situation.

[Kazan]

The only real threat is if he attacked my dev group, or the SCP dev group is we'd need the EFF to defend us since we cannot personally pony up enough cash

however the EFF would be reimbursed when DS lost and had to pay our court costs

[ShadowPuppet]

This sort of thing usually boils down to the small print!

Having just been through an identical situation as part of another mod team elsewhere, it is unlikely that DS will be able to influence or damage the SCP.

In my situation, the small print allowed work on the source provided it remained open source. All code mods had to be made available and logged with the owners, and all output had to be non-profit. When the game rights were bought, technically, they bought rights which allowed them to have access to ALL the mod work done on the source should they wish to use it. It was, after all, still theirs. They could have used it for a new title etc. but could not, actually, revoke access to the source in it's original form. They CAN stop you releasing anything containing FS2 content, but they can't stop you modding.

Anyway...it is clear that 'Alpha Male' doesn't want the SCP work, the old code or anything else! So, in theory, anyone here could take the SCP, remove ALL models and GUI from the original, replace it with original content and release it FOC on the net. Say..just before FS3 ships

[kasperl]

Sounds like a plan, but we would be talking WCS or TBP, not FS here.