Recently we had a huge upset in the forums about the removal of freebies, copyrights, etc. Warnings were handed out, people got upset and now everything has calmed down. Yay!!! NOT!!!!! Recently approved freebies: Sand People weapons, Rhodian droids, Imperial Hunter seeker Droid, Event Horizon styled ship. What is going on? Can we upload freebies now that are directly linked to movies, even using the name of the movie in the title. Using specific names like "Sand People"? I know Rhodian and Imperial are not a copyrighted words, but used in conjuntion with "droid" it definitely links it to Star Wars, the exact reason many freebies were pulled and warnings given. Sorry, I just want some clarity, consistency and an end to my confusion.

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He didn't actually use the phrase "Star Wars" in the freestuff items, did he? Maybe they should change the names of the items so they don't use Lucas terminology. Not that I'm an expert on Star Wars, but are they similar enough to movie items/merchandise to cause trouble, after changing the names?

Event Horizon was the name of a movie. He cannot claim that he modelled the Star Wars products from reading the books, because the books are based on the movie, and the descriptions in the books follow the movie descriptions, making this a copyright violation. If Star Wars had been based on a book he would have been safe to use Rhodian, Imperial and Sand People, claiming he modelled the objects from his imagination after reading the books, but as the books are based on the movies, that defence does not work. These items have been approved after it was made clear that all copyrighted items are not allowed. They have been approved by the free stuff moderators, the same people who handed out warnings to people who had posted Star Wars freebies two or three years ago.

I will add another thing...I'm sick do death of all this copyright crap...SICK TO DEATH OF IT!!!!!! One of my favorite car modellers has disappeared due to another thread....I will NEVER EVER look again in the copyright forum....I'll leave at that....GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

That's all that's ever discussed around nowadays....Don't get me wrong, I don't want to see peoples art ripped off or Warez...but IMHO...some people are getting obsessive & need to start rendering or something ~eyeroll~ Flame on...........

Message edited on: 12/15/2004 19:57

I absolutely agree dlk30341. It seems that the big companies are really afraid to lose money or their laywers need more activity (and money).

I wouldn't use a well known name, but anyway ist this enough to be removed? OK, let Star Wars be protected, but Sand People? Sometimes you use names, you do not even know that they are copyrighted. This world gets sick somehow with its regulations.

In Europe even Windows is a copyrighted term, which is just a common english word! Thanks to the power of Microsoft. :-(

Message edited on: 12/16/2004 08:09

Sand people shouldnt be copyrighted because it wasnt actually made up by george lucas but in america I suppose you can copyright anything... Someone in america was trying to copyright the human genome, well, if they can prove that they invented the human genome then they probably would be allowed to copyright it. ;)

I am sick of this copyright rubbish, too.

Message edited on: 12/16/2004 11:21

Trying figuring out copyright for something you need to cite in a scholarly research paper...especially if it's a comic book or an animated movie! Holy Swiss Cheese, B*mn! The dean of our graduate college is kicking back every single masters thesis that he feels may in any way lead to an email from anyones legal department.... I've got half a dozen MA candidates who are having to rewrite major portions of their thesis and some of them were supposed to graduate next week.

Sorry, you seemed to have missed my point. The moderators of the freestuff have approved these things, as well as adding yesterday "Sith Lightsabers". What I want to know is this, can we upload our freebies again, just renaming them? If we leave Star Wars out of the title, would they be allowed? I am just asking for clarity. Our models were removed for copyright infringement, but others are allowed. What can we upload? How must we name them to be allowed? Can I upload my Aliens products if I leave out all references to Aliens?

Well, in my point of view, it is a matter of what the maintainers of this site allow. A little bit of clarity would help. I would assume you should be on the safe side if you remove the references. Al other details are subject to laywers.

Yes, ordinary members of the site cant say if it is or isnt okay to upload stuff, that was why I didn`t comment on that.