Smurch

I'm sorry, but you're actually wrong. I don't know what else to tell you but you gravely misunderstand copyright law.

I used to own a small record label, and I had to deal with IP law all the time. Copyright protects a specific work and that work only. It doesn't protect a design, concept or idea. It certainly doesn't protect a name or word. Names and words cannot be copyrighted. The FAQ on the LoC's website says this explicitly.

Your context is incorrect. A collage is not protected by copyright unless you own the copyright on the works in the collage. Which in CoX you do not.

No it's not, because any character you make in the character creator is using artwork that you have no copyright to. You have a license, in the EULA, to use that artwork for a specific purpose. But outside of that purpose, you cannot just appropriate NCSoft's art and call it your own because you assembled that art in a particular way. That's not even a grey area.

No, it doesn't. I've read all IP law very closely from 1936 onward. I've had to defend some IP from people in the past. I know very clearly what it does and does not cover.

Actually, the 1976 ruling made copyright law more restrictive, not less.

Which is exactly what I said. Thank you for acknowledging I was right. It has to be a SPECIFIC WORK. Like "THIS picture" not just "A picture".

Any picture made with the character creator is using copyrighted art, Copyright NCSoft, and therefore you cannot afix a copyright to any image you make with NCSoft's tools.

True. But again, they're very different branches of law.

[quote]Trademarks are just that: they are marks intended to identify a particular business or trade. Trademark protection *doesn't* protect against copying or usage per se: it protects against anyone else using the mark for commercial purposes within the same basic business or field.

Sort of. Trademark law is very complex. A public school in Florida (a not for profit government agency) created some unique artwork of disney characters to put on it's walls. It was successfully sued by the Disney corporation to remove those images, based on trademark, as it implied that Disney endorsed their school. This is called Dilution.

To prove Dilution, you do not need to prove that the violator is using your work commercially. You just need to prove that it in some way reduces your branding capability. If I create a Star Wars website that ends up very popular, even if I make no money on it, LucasArt can (and does) require that site shut down based on Dilution.

Since that's private, obviously they wouldn't know. But Trademark law requires companies to defend their trademarks in the public arena or lose them. If a company ignores a public trademark violation, they risk losing the trademark. This is called Abandonment.

Actually, you technically are, but since it's not in the public domain, it doesn't matter from a legal perspective. You don't need to be doing it commercially. If you draw a picture of Batman and put it on your personal non-commercial website, DC Comics can ABSOLUTELY assert trademark rights and require you to remove that picture.

In the second case, you're likely in violation of both.

And the Trademark is the right you keep and grant NCSoft a license to according to the EULA, not the copyright. Because you own no copyright on any character made with NCSoft's copyrighted artwork. You only own a copyright on any text you type into the character biography. The artwork isn't yours, you have a limited license to use it to create a character, but you have no copyright on that character. Ergo, if you create Amazing Man with Face 3 and using the Vines costume set, and I make Mister Amazing using Face 3 and using the Vines costume set, I did not violate your copyright. You HAVE no copyright on the combination of Face 3 and the vines costume set, since face 3 and the vines costume set is 100% copyright NCSoft and we both created our characters using our limited license.

He has no rights over the specific character artwork in the game, in that case, unless he created the component artwork himself. Or unless NCSoft transfered the copyright to that character image to him. The specific "Castle" image in the game is copyright NCSoft.

Now, Castle may own the trademark of the character. Which is different. So he could re-create that character in another medium. But he couldn't use the specific artwork form in-game in another medium, since he doesn't own that artwork.

Again, unless he created the artwork for the in-game Castle, copyright has nothing to do with it and wouldn't come into play. Unless you are referring to the backstory, which of course could certainly be copyright.

You still wont be able to use your portal. My wife got the Oro portal on a level 19 character in the 5th anniversary event by being on a team that took out BaB in Cap. She couldn't actually enter the portal until 25.

I think being able to enter a portal when on a team due to Supersidekicking should be fine.

Its been a fairly common problem with exempt'd 50s for me. I'm a bit leery of inviting any these days.

Yeah, this. Except all too often they just actually click the glowie while we're fighting the first spawn. Whats worse is when they have TP Friend, because then the team disappears member by member until you either go along with them or get stuck at the beginning while the team clears the last room.

It's a paper mission, we're not on a time limit! Can't we just play?

I cannot wait to roll a Demon/Thermal!

It's better now with the new difficulty options. I cranked it up, and finally I have to actually, you know, do stuff to complete the mission instead of just sitting and reading something until I hear the sound FX stop.

Actually flash arrow generates no aggro at all.
You can hit a spawn with flash arrow and it won't even attack.

Myth: Getting aggro as an MM will get you killed, because you're squishy

Fact: with Bodyguard Mode on, pulling mobs onto you is a legitimate way to tank with an MM.

No, actually you cannot. You can TRADEMARK that. But you cannot copyright it. Only an actual specific work can be copyrighted.

NCsoft doesn't use the term copyright, but rather "Trademark right, copyright, or other proprietary right" as a catch all phrase (since IP law is indeed so very complex). It isn't implying that you have a copyright to your character. You don't. Because you don't have a copyright to the artwork. That artwork, no matter how it is assembled, is copyright NC Soft.

By making a character in the Character Creator using their art, you're effectively making a Collage. Collages are Derivative Works and are NOT protected by copyright. If you're using someone else's artwork to create a work, you own absolutely no part of that. That's derrivation. You need a License to do that (such as the EULA) and are restricted to the terms of that license for use of that art.

Copyright protects a WORK (a picture, a photograph, some text, software code)
Trademark protects a DESIGN/Name (a "look", a word using in a specific context, an emblem, a logo)

This is an important distinction.

Again, if you draw a picture of your character with all original art, you own the copyright on that picture. If you make a character in the character creator and take a screen shot of it, you do NOT own that picture. Even if you assert a trademark on the design.

You're again still confounding copyright and trademark law. The case you cite has no bearing here since any particular character, aside from written descriptions in the biography would only be disputable from a trademark perspective, not a copyright one and trademark law is an entirely separate and different body of law from copyright law. They aren't the same thing. They're entirely separate legal codes.

For example, if I come out with my own Superman comic book, If the writing and artwork is done by me, I am not violating anyone's copyright. I am, however, violating DC Comics' trademarks. If I make a copy of a superman comic book, or re-use the artwork or writing from one and put it in my own, NOW I am violating a copyright. If I make a collage of "Super-Heroes" and cut bits from a bunch of comics and paste them together, that's a derivative work and I have zero copyright over that collage unless I have a license to use that artwork in this fashion, in which case I have whatever rights the license grants me. Depending on what bits I've cut out, I may also be violating trademarks with my collage as well.

Depends on how old they are. These days, anything more than 3-5 years old is generally disposed of. The TCO is too high to pay for extended maintenance.

But yes, I primarily meant the data.

Maidens?

l2p

Character data is likely worthless. No corporation is going to auction off the character "xXxCatgirlxXx" to anyone for anything of value. If the game were canceled, the odds are the DB servers would be disposed of. No one is going to datawarehouse a bunch of player character data. It wouldn't be worth the costs.

That's probably true. The EULA is designed to protect NCSoft from lawsuits rather than any attempt to make a grab for someone's IP.

This case actually wouldn't apply here at all, since the artwork in the game is the only thing where copyright is in question, and that clearly belongs to NCSoft. You're using their art with their permission to create a specific derivative design. In the Marvel case it was the artists who made the artwork vs the company that held them. This would be like Jay vs NCSoft, for example, to use his particular digital art in another form, but would not apply to customers licensing the artwork which is NCSoft's (and possibly Jay Dougherty's) property.

Copyright in this case would apply only to any bits of biography or background that you type into the system for your character. Nothing else is protected under copyright since you cannot copyright a design nor a name, but only a unique non-derivative work.

Any characters you want to assert ownership of such as by name or the design of their costume would be under trademark law.

No, this is incorrect. A name, for example, cannot be copyrighted. Nor can a "look" (i.e. costume). A particular picture or representation (artwork, photograph) CAN be copyrighted, but not the subject of that artwork or photograph. So if you make a character in CoX and then take a screenshot of that character, you do not own the copyright on that character: the artwork used belongs to NCSoft. They own the copyright. However, if you draw a picture of your character (or, in fact, any other character) you own the copyright of that picture. If you photograph someone dressed as that character in a costume they made, you own the copyright on the photograph but not the costume.

Now, if you claim a character's name and general appearance (design) as your own, you're asserting a Trademark, not a Copyright. This is a distinctly different thing.

Everyone always confuses Copyright and Trademark law which are, despite both being branches of intellectual property law, are very different bodies of law with two entirely different branches of government in charge of them (the Library of Congress for Copyright and the Patent and Trademark Office for Trademarks).

It is a very confusing and complex area of law where the courts don't always even agree with each other. Again, I advise people that unless you're in a position to spend alot of money to protect characters you create, it's not a good idea to create characters you want to use later in any service like this.

No, that's not true. If you own the copyright and trademark, by putting it in the game you grant NCSoft a non-exclusive world-wide license to use the character. This prevents the Marvel situation where Marvel employees made clones of Marvel characters which Marvel comics then used to sue Cryptic over. You can, however, create copyrighted and trademarked characters you own in the game, but you then grant a perpetual license to NCSoft for use of those characters in the game.

If you do NOT own the copyright or trademark, you cannot put the character into the game at all.

And BTW, in most cases, it's the Trademark thats important, moreso than the copyright.

Welcome to the game.
I'm glad to have the old world back too!

I think you'll do fine with either as your first choice. My first brute was a SS/Inv and I really liked it. I'm currently leveling an axe/WP and that's really good too. SS with either should be just fine.

At least when THEY do it, you can go punch them in the face.

I still don't like it when they do that. I like seeing if I can handle that big spawn all by myself. I want to test my abilities, test my skill, and challenge myself. Someone throwing a random buff on me ruins the experience for me.

I really really hate that. Whats worse is when they throw you a team invite and if you decline, they follow you around and kill steal everything out of... what? Spite that you didn't accept their oh so generous blind invite? Bully you into teaming with them or else they'll steal all your XP? Or "well you're gonna team with me whether you like it or not"?

There's also Rikti War Zone. Midnight Club. Oroborous. Cimmerora.

But otherwise, I completely agree with everything you wrote.